Blake Bortles: Nathaniel Hackett breathes new life into struggling QB

Blake Bortles has regressed in 2016 and is failing to even look competent on some plays, but he may not go anywhere because of the Jacksonville Jaguars’ shift at offensive coordinator.

Putting all of the blame for the Jacksonville Jaguars’ struggles on quarterback Blake Bortles may not be entirely fair, but in the modern NFL a team is only as good as its quarterback. As far as quarterbacks go, Bortles hasn’t been great (to put it nicely) in 2016.

Bortles’ 59.2 completion percentage is a career high for him, but just 28th in the NFL this season. His 6.5 yards per attempt is similarly low, coming in 28th. He also has the fourth highest interception percentage, tossing a pick on three percent of attempts. This all combines for the 27th highest quarterback rating in the NFL at 80.2.

To give some further perspective, this puts Bortles in league with a regressing Joe Flacco and Cam Newton, Case Keenum, and Trevor Siemian. That’s not company the Jaguars want him to be in after a big year of progress in 2015.

The calls for Bortles to be benched have begun, but they probably won’t convince the Jags.

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The Jags have made moves committed to righting the quarterback ship that may breathe new life into Bortles’ time with the team. This crucially included the rightful firing of offensive coordinator Greg Olson prior to Week 9.

Whether Hackett can actually get Bortles to become much better doesn’t matter much. Just the fact the OC changed and he is there to try his hand with Bortles should be enough to keep the struggling QB on the field. As noted by John Oehser, there’s bound to be more games for Bortles because Hackett just took over.

For those of you looking for a QB change, this doesn’t sound good. Hopefully Hackett can find a way to get Bortles back on track but, even if he doesn’t, it looks like we’ll be getting more Bortles going forward.