Blake Bortles is A Different Player From His College Years

Blake Bortles is the starter for the Jacksonville Jaguars going forward. For the team that is incredibly good, especially after the struggles Chad Henne had leading the offense. Bortles was able to inspire better play from pretty much everyone on the roster and he was able to move the ball down the field and put some points on the board during his half of play against the Indianapolis Colts last week.

The Blake Bortles we saw against the Colts was a player who has made major strides in his game since being drafted third overall in the 2014 NFL Draft. Bortles always had a certain charisma around him and a leadership aura coupled with physical tools that saw him drafted so high this year. But we saw a player who was much more composed and far ore structured during his time on the field last week. We can expect more of the same in this coming week, too.

A big highlight of this is his arm strength. As was discussed previously, Bortles wasn’t considered a super big arm coming out of college but he is now being considered as one of the better arms in the NFL. That’s some major progress in the span of a few months. He makes tossing the ball 20+ yards look pretty easy.

It’s not just his arm strength that has developed, though. As noted by Michael DiRocco, Bortles is like a new version of himself. Apparently he’s pretty pleased with his new self and I’m pretty pleased as well. He moves well, his lower body isn’t just a secondary part of his game any longer and has instead become a foundation for his overall play. He’s progressing much more quickly than many of us anticipated, especially after it was decided to stick with Chad Henne as quarterback for a full season.

When that decision was made I was forced to wonder what it was that the coaching staff thought about Bortles that wasn’t prepared for the big leagues. After watching him play, it’s pretty tough to say that it’s in the mechanical part of his game. He’s obviously not at an All Pro level right now, but he’s certainly on the right track.

The main concern I have for Bortles will be the mental lapses that happen with all rookies. Not having seen everything in the NFL, Bortles will likely make a mistake or two (ok, more than one or two) while he’s starting for the Jaguars. Hopefully he won’t have a lot of those mistakes pile up as he tries to utilize his athleticism to extend plays (something we all love about him). There were quite a few throws in the game against the Colts that I was worried for, but things turned out alright. Eventually teams may capitalize on them.

All in all, though, Bortles looks light years ahead of where he was after his last season at UCF. If he keeps developing this fast, we can expect some great things in the mid part and latter half of the season.