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Is Blake Bortles like Peyton Manning? Julius Thomas Hopes So

By Luke Sims

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Blake Bortles received a lot of favorable comparisons during a positively wretched year statistically. While we are all overlooking the statistics and hoping he continues to live up to the Ben Roethlisberger comparison, Julius Thomas is busy comparing him to the greatest player in the history of the position: Peyton Manning.

Thomas knows a thing or two about Peyton Manning, having been a stud tight end for the future Hall of Famer for the past couple years. If he’s saying Blake Bortles is going to be like Peyton Manning, then who are we to question his up close assessment?

While I trust Thomas, I also know that this a bit of hype to bring some attention to his new QB and to help bolster the “Bortles is the future” talk. We’re all hoping that Bortles can turn a year that was relatively similar to Peyton Manning’s rookie campaign into a future Hall of Fame career as well. The talk existed for parts of the year among fans, highlighting his flashes of brilliance while the offense continued to sputter. By all accounts, Bortles is working on getting better. Hopefully we see a better quarterback in his second season.

Julius Thomas believes that Blake Bortles could get there in five to six years. “I’m hoping that five or six years from now they are saying, ‘You still aren’t any good,'” because he was catching passes from such great quarterbacks (Manning and Bortles). As a Jags fan, I’m hoping that comes out to be true as well.

I’m also hoping that Thomas gets his sweet revenge against those same critics, putting together great season after great season. He’s a touchdown machine and if Blake Bortles is even half as good as Peyton Manning then the Jaguars should be able to get a few more touchdowns through the air.

10 to 15 years from now, hopefully we can look back on this and think about the massive improvement Bortles had and how he did end up matching Manning’s career trajectory.

Having a quality tight end to throw to will help.

Next: Predicting Every 2015 Jaguars Game

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