JAGS READY TO PIVOT ON STARTING QB
Beleaguered Bortles to start Sunday in London, but trade seems likely scenario
Even though Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Doug Marrone reinstated Blake Bortles as the team’s starting quarterback, at least for this week, what does it all mean long term?
For now, it leaves Marrone and Tom Coughlin, head of football operations with the Jaguars, with plenty to think about as they pack for their trip across the ocean to London’s Wembley Stadium to play the nearly-as-disappointing Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday.
Marrone informed Bortles Monday he has his starting job back for the Eagles game, after benching him for Cody Kessler early in the third quarter of Sunday’s dismal 20-7 home-field loss to the Houston Texans.
“I believe this gives us the best opportunity to win,” Marrone said in his brief statement.
These are the Jaguars’ QB options beyond Sunday:
■ Keep Bortles as starter. Yippee.
■ Promote one of his two backups, either Kessler (who in eight games as a Cleveland Brown went 0-8 as starter) or sixthround rookie draft pick Tanner Lee (who has yet to take a regular-season NFL snap). Uh, no.
■ Sign someone from the underwhelming list of free agents. See below.
■ Before the NFL trade deadline next Tuesday at 4 p.m. ET, make a swap for some other team’s under-performing starter, or a backup who offers more hope than Bortles.
None of the first three options likely would turn the 3-4 Jaguars into a more promising playoff contender this season.
Reports on Sunday said players were shouting at one another, with physical restraint necessary, as frustrations boiled over in the Jaguars’ locker-room following their third straight loss, and fourth in five games.
The Jags’ defence still ranks No. 1 in the league against the pass, but to keep those young, ferociously competitive defenders on board for the rest of the season, Marrone and Coughlin must understand they can’t put Bortles out there much longer.
Nor can they put either Kessler or Lee in there, other than as short-bridge temps. Marrone and Coughlin have a locker-room full of angry players staring at them to do something, now, to improve a consistently terrible offence.
Among unsigned free agent QBS available, there’s only happy retiree Jay Cutler, former Pittsburgh backup Landry Jones, Houston flop Tom Savage, ex-Colt Scott Tolzien, Buffalo bust EJ Manuel, Raiders reject Connor Cook, jettisoned ex-jet Bryce Petty, plus journeymen Mark Sanchez, T.J. Yates, Ryan Mallett and Matt Barkley. Unwanted discards for a reason, all of them.
Oh, and add one more name to that list: Colin Kaepernick.
Jaguars owner Shad Khan already has gone on record saying he would not block Coughlin and Marrone from signing the controversial figure. But Kap hasn’t taken an NFL practice or game snap now in nearly two years.
Would Kaepernick, or one or two others from the above list, give the Jaguars a better chance to win than Bortles, Kessler or Lee at this point, once given the chance to digest the Jaguars’ not-too-complicated playbook? Perhaps. Probably not.
But someone with a proven record of ably completing NFL passes — in crunch regularseason situations recently, and in the playoffs previously in his career — would seem the best option of all, no?
Who fitting that description could the Jaguars acquire via trade in the next week? Maybe Eli Manning of the New York Giants.
He’s 37, and many this season are calling him washed up. Would the change of scenery and better O -line protection restore the two-time Super Bowl MVP’S confidence? Yeah, maybe. And remember, Coughlin was the man who coached Manning to those two Super Bowl titles, and presumably would dearly love to have him in Jacksonville.
Alternatively, it’s possible another Super Bowl MVP could be obtained, such as Philadelphia Eagles backup Nick Foles. It’s been speculated all year the Eagles might be willing to trade Foles once Carson Wentz appears fully recovered (as he does now) from the mangled knee he suffered last December. What’s more, Eagles GM Howie Roseman loves accruing draft picks, and Philly is high on third-string QB Nate Sudfeld as a backup.
The third-best option might be Teddy Bridgewater.
Two outside possibilities are benched old guys: Sam Bradford in Arizona and Ryan Fitzpatrick in Tampa Bay.
I say the Jags this week should trade for Manning, Foles or Bridgewater, then quickly augment the offence around that quarterback’s talents once he’s ready to play.