The QB room in LA just got a little bit hotter with Blake Bortles signing with the Rams. I’m so happy for Blake. This was the perfect landing spot for him. Sure, he wasn’t that great in Jacksonville aside from his 2017 season, but that wasn’t entirely his fault.
Gus Bradley, a defensive minded coach that literally didn’t remember calling timeouts, was the mentor for Blakes first three years in the NFL. The consistent lack of talent and draft busts that Bradley surrounded Blake with contributed to the 32nd and 25th ranked offenses during his tenure which resulted in a 14-48 record and firing after the 2016 season.
When Doug Marrone took over in 2017 and brought an attitude and talent with him to the defense, along with a decent running game and receivers that could actually get open, Bortles looked like a good quarterback; leading Jacksonville to the 5th ranked offense in the NFL and an appearance in the AFC Championship game. Unfortunately the entire team lost their collective minds in 2018 and regressed to their 2015 form and finished last in points scored.
A lot of people thought Bortles might end up in New England as Brady’s backup. This never made sense to me as Hoyer is entrenched and the entire team lauded his work behind the scenes to prepare them for the high flying Rams offense during the preparation for the Super Bowl. And when Hoyer does get replaced it won’t be with a 27 year old quarterback that has been in the league for 5 years; it’ll be with a guy they handpick to replace Tom when he retires in 10 years.
So LA was perfect for him. He gets to backup a good quarterback in Goff and play in an offense loaded with weapons led by the best offensive mind in the NFL. There won’t be pressure to carry an entire offense when Todd Gurley is behind you and Brandin Cooks, Robert Woods, and Cooper Kupp are split out wide. That’s even if he gets game action.
Plus he’s in Los Angeles. He grew up in Florida, went to school at UCF, and got drafted by Jacksonville. He wasn’t going to be a starter anywhere- save for maybe Miami but they stupidly signed Fitzpatrick yesterday- and his options probably looked like cold weather teams and the Rams. I’d say he made the right choice.
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