Why Blake Bortles needs the Rams and the Rams need Blake Bortles
Vincent Bonsignore
https://theathletic.com/873121/2019/03/18/why-blake-bortles-needs-the-rams-and-the-rams-need-blake-bortles/
To understand why Blake Bortles might be interested in spending the 2019 season on a team offering nothing more than the chance to be the backup to an established Pro Bowl quarterback coming off a Super Bowl season, it’s important to consider who just displaced Bortles as the Jacksonville Jaguars’ starter.
Nick Foles was on the verge of giving up football a few years ago. That he just signed a four-year, $88 million deal with the Jaguars — $50.125 million of which is guaranteed — is proof that making progress sometimes requires taking a decided step back. And that improving your craft is often more about the environment and coaching you work with every day than it is being the No. 1 guy.
In other words, when it comes to young quarterbacks who seemingly have played their way out of NFL viability, history has shown it’s not always a good idea to be too hasty in kicking them to the curb. With the right opportunity, a turnaround is possible.
Bortles is set to visit the Rams on Monday. The meeting could lead to the free agent and the club agreeing on a contract. This begs two questions, from two distinctly different perspectives.
First, why would the Rams be interested in Bortles? He is being paid by his former team to not be on its roster, he has a starting record of 24-49 and never has he completed more than 60.3 percent of his passes in a season. Bortles is coming off a dreadful year in which he threw 11 interceptions and 13 touchdowns. The Jaguars went 3-9 with Bortles as their starter. They benched him, and they released him on March 13.
Second, wouldn’t it make more sense for Bortles to go to a team that needs a starter? Having a much clearer path to starting would expedite the rehabilitation of his career and image. All the Rams can offer is a chance to compete for the backup spot behind Jared Goff, their quarterback for the present and long-range future.
The answer to the first question is pretty easy: The Rams need a backup quarterback and have a limited amount of salary cap space — about $9 million or so after their recent signings and the inclusion of tenders and rookie contracts. As poorly as Bortles sometimes played over his five years as the Jaguars’ starter, his experience level exceeds that of most other options. And he did help Jacksonville win a division title and advance to the AFC championship game two years ago.
That’s a much better resume than Sean Mannion, Goff’s backup the last two seasons, and just about anybody else the Rams could sign at this point. They took a giant risk relying on the inexperienced Mannion, and only Goff’s durability might have protected them from disaster.
Bortles offers much more experience and certainty, current warts and all.
Meanwhile, thanks to the contract extension he signed in 2018, Bortles is owed $6.5 million in guaranteed money next season from the Jaguars. Jacksonville’s obligation lessens depending on how Bortles’ next team pays him. For instance, if he signs a $1-million deal with the Rams, the Jaguars are still on the hook for the remaining $5.5 million. It’s extremely unlikely someone offers him more than $6.5 million, which would take the Jaguars off the hook entirely.
That circumstance makes the money somewhat irrelevant and puts the Rams in position to secure Bortles at an amount that puts minimal strain on their salary cap.
There are worse situations than having a reasonably priced 26-year-old backup quarterback with 73 career starts, a division title and an appearance in a conference championship game.
Given the support system the Rams could provide Bortles — an offensive-minded head coach, in Sean McVay, with a history of developing quarterbacks and an offense with plenty of experience and productive weapons — they are confident they can bring him back to a level in which he could be relied upon in emergency situations.
If Bortles rehabilitated his reputation in Los Angeles and left as a free agent after one season, the Rams would receive a compensatory pick. Or, if the Rams become enamored with a college prospect in next year’s draft, they could capitalize on a revitalized Bortles and the trade market he created for himself.
All of those scenarios would not be in play with a quarterback with less experience and a lesser name. And considering the minimal investment it will likely take to secure Bortles, the downside is almost non-existent.
There is no doubt Bortles has been humbled by the events of the last year or so. He seemed on the verge of taking a decisive step forward after leading the Jaguars to the AFC title game and being rewarded with a contract extension worth upwards of $66 million. Confidence was growing in his ability to play the position.
Instead, Bortles slid back in 2018 and was replaced by former USC quarterback Cody Kessler after a dreadful first-half performance against the Houston Texans in Week 7. Kessler also started four of the last five games of the season, which essentially marked the end of Bortles’ tenure in Jacksonville. Last week, the Jaguars released the No. 3 overall selection of the 2014 NFL Draft.
In 12 months, Bortles went from being on the verge of a career breakthrough to unemployment. It was a painful fall. But it would be a mistake to assume Bortles can’t pick himself up and recover.
On the surface, a relationship between the Rams and Bortles might not make much sense. Recent history suggests they both might be walking into each other’s lives at just the right time.
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Agamemnon
