Jacksonville Jaguars Midseason Rookie Recap: Luke Bowanko
By Daniel Lago
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Heading into their bye week after a brutal loss in London, the Jacksonville Jaguars are a little more than halfway through the 2014 NFL regular season. The bye week also means it’s time to step back and briefly evaluate how some of the players have performed so far. The second year into a massive rebuild, the most interesting players to look at of course are the young guys who should eventually be the foundation for this team.
Over the course of the week, we’ll be taking a look at all of the rookies playing roles for the Jaguars right now. We’ll start with the undrafted guys and work our way down all the way to the first round pick.
Let’s take a look at the guy who represents by far the best thing to come out of the horrific Blaine Gabbert era – 6th round center Luke Bowanko.
Jacksonville Jaguars general manager David Caldwell pulled off one of the most improbably transactions in the history of professional sports when he somehow hoodwinked the San Francisco 49ers into trading him a 6th round pick for maligned quarterback Blaine Gabbert. While 6th round picks usually don’t amount to much, it was downright miraculous Caldwell was able to get anything for what was statistically the worst first round quarterback ever.
Well it turns out that having a ton of draft picks is good, because sometimes you find a gem late in the draft like our new starting center. Luke Bowanko has already played significantly better than Blaine Gabbert ever did. Here are some stats and grades for his season so far courtesy of Pro Football Focus.
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Luke Bowanko played well enough in the preseason to warrant consideration for the starting center job in week 1, but the Jaguars opted to go with Jacques McClendon instead. After a disastrous 10 sack game against the Washington Redskins, Bowanko took over starting center duties and provided an immediate and drastic upgrade. Bowanko has been consistent as a run blocker and been a big part of Denard Robinson’s emergence, and he’s been adequate as a pass blocker. PFF graded him out as the 11th best center in the NFL among centers who’ve played half their team’s snaps. The offensive line as a whole has improved noticeably over the course of the season, and Bowanko has been a big part of that. He hasn’t shown enough to say he’s a guy who can hold down the center position for years to come, but he has enough promise to keep him in the lineup and see if he can continue outperforming his 6th round draft slot.