I’m not gonna lie – I never saw this coming. Sure, I expected some hype and excitement to surround the Jaguars’ pick of a highly-regarded quarterback in the top 10 of this year’s draft. David Garrard is by no means “finished” in Jacksonville, but the selection of Blaine Gabbert represents a youthful dose of hope for the Jaguars franchise that will hopefully carry us well into the future. The Colts weren’t much to talk about before Peyton Manning – they seem pretty healthy now. The Saints were in danger of being relocated before Drew Brees – since then, they’ve been embraced by the whole state of Louisiana and many more throughout the nation. David Garrard has been a good quarterback in Jacksonville and at times, jaw-dropping; he’s capable of taking the Jaguars to the playoffs and winning there, but I think we can all agree that he’s not that “next level” of quarterback that consistently makes magic happen. We have no idea at this point if Blaine Gabbert can be that guy either, but he was thought to be special enough for the Jaguars to take a big gamble, trading up in the draft to select him, and the expectation is that he will become special and become the face of this franchise. This is what this franchise needs – badly. Let’s face it, we’ve had a dark cloud hanging over our city that’s been perpetuated by blackouts, insults from the national media, and an obvious disdain towards the Jacksonville market from the NFL and other parties who look at Los Angeles and see nothing dollar signs. Putting together a special team and having a player who garners the attention and adoration that a young, elite quarterback attracts would help usher Jacksonville through these dark days and solidify the foundation of NFL in our market. So, the BIG question – does the rookie have a shot to start in 2011?

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