The NFL is a quarterback-driven league but three of the four teams left standing this season don’t have superstars under center
Each April at the top of the NFL draft, teams grab at quarterbacks they envision leading them to glory. But none of the four quarterbacks remaining in the NFL playoffs took that textbook path to the conference title game. The Eagles, Vikings, Patriots and Jaguars each made it to the championship round without an early pick, “franchise QB” leading the way, not the way in which it’s supposed to be done.
Jacksonville’s Blake Bortles was a first-round pick, sure. But in the four seasons from the time he was taken with the No3 overall pick in the 2014 draft to today, he lost the franchise QB luster with inconsistent and occasionally comically awful play. Benched just this preseason, he regained the starting job over Chad Henne by week one, but didn’t exactly light up the scoreboard until the Jaguars put 45 on the Steelers in the divisional round. His two games before that were a 12-for-23, 87-yard effort in a 10-7 win over the Bills and a 15-for-34, two-interception games in a 15-10 loss to the Titans. It was Jacksonville’s defense that got the Jags to Pittsburgh, with Bortles seen as little more than a caretaker along the way, if we’re being generous; or, according to less kind appraisals, Bortles was – and remains – Jacksonville’s one glaring weakness. Remember that Jaguars head coach Doug Marrone, when asked last spring how many of Bortles’ passes his ideal game plan would feature in 2017, replied: “Zero”. There’s not a person outside of Duval County, Florida, who would argue Bortles is even a Top 15 NFL quarterback or that he has lived up to his No3 overall pick pedigree.
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