Blake Bortles will visit Jacksonville Jaguars Thursday
Blake Bortles throws the ball during the 2014 NFL Combine. Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports
The Jacksonville Jaguars might not take a quarterback with the third overall pick in the 2014 NFL Draft, but QB is their biggest need and they are unsurprisingly closely researching every first and second-tier option. Derek Carr, Teddy Bridgewater, Johnny Manziel, and Jimmy Garoppolo are four big-name QBs set to visit with the Jaguars tomorrow, and now ESPN’s Ed Werder reports that UCF Knights product Blake Bortles will visit the team Thursday.
Bortles is one of the “big four” QB prospects, and he still has a chance to go first overall to the Houston Texans. While I think Bortles isn’t a sure-fire first-round pick in terms of talent, he has all the tools teams look for in a franchise quarterback and most likely won’t make it out of the first round. Bortles excels under pressure, has a strong arm, and can run well with good vision as a rusher, but he doesn’t have consistent enough ball placement and does not progress through reads or use his eyes well.
The Jaguars are better off taking a QB in this year’s draft, but I expect them to take a top position player like Khalil Mack or Jadeveon Clowney in the first round before waiting until the 2nd round to take a QB. There’s a good chance somebody will slip, and I think they would be comfortable taking a guy like Derek Carr if he falls past the Cleveland Browns at 26. The Jaguars could go in a number of different directions, and I think Teddy Bridgewater is the most likely prospect to go to Jacksonville if they choose to take a QB in the first.