Nov 4, 2012; Jacksonville, FL, USA; Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Blaine Gabbert (11) before the game against the Detroit Lions at EverBank Field. Mandatory Credit: Melina Vastola-USA TODAY Sports

Whether you’re a fan of Geno Smith, Matt Barkley, or even Chad Henne, Jaguars fans are torn between quarterbacks not on the roster and expected starter Blaine Gabbert.  Gabbert has left a lot to be desired at quarterback since his rookie season when he was forced into action following the cutting of David Garrard and it has been a bumpy road since.  Last season he was benched in favor of Henne before being placed on injured reserve.

Gabbert is the big question in Jacksonville.  Do you draft pieces around him this offseason and hope he improves or do you scrap the entire project and start new with someone like Smith or Barkley?  Can anyone succeed with such a terrible offensive line?  To be honest, it takes a special quarterback to play behind a terrible offensive line.  Kurt Warner and Brett Favre could do it, Aaron Rodgers and Ben Roethlisberger can do it, but a lot of quarterbacks can’t.  But it really isn’t my opinion that matters, but 2012 head coach Mike Mularkey’s opinion did matter and he’s got a lot to say about Gabbert now:

I watched a lot of tape on Blaine prior to going there and interviewing for that job and there were some things that were going against him in his rookie year.  Basically, he wasn’t drafted to be the starter, he was a true junior coming out of the draft, which is hard to do, and really he was supposed to be sitting back and kind of being groomed. Kind of thrown into the fire.  Not a lot of help around him that rookie year.  We felt like, with the coaching and the system we were running, we felt like he got better.  He was getting better up to that injury.  Forecasting out whether he can be one of those franchise quarterbacks, I can’t do that.  The thing I saw was improvement.  That’s what I wanted from him.  He’s really never had a chance, you know, like you’d like to give the guy.

Personally, I’m not certain Gabbert can be “the guy.”  I think he should get another year to show that he can be the franchise quarterback he was drafted to be, but I don’t know that he has the skill or intangibles to be the face of the franchise and lead the Jaguars into the future.  I think he could develop into “the guy” and I would love it if he proved that during the 2013 season.  Like Mularkey, I’m not certain he has had a chance with a good supporting cast to show that he could be a franchise quarterback.  Like many quarterbacks, Gabbert came into a bad situation.

Mularkey takes the now-common defense of Gabbert revolving around having two more years of college experience if he hadn’t come out for the draft in 2011.  Gabbert could have developed his skills a little and come out more polished and be expected to be at about where he is now as a rookie, rather than being expected to be Matt Ryan or Joe Flacco right away.  He may not have been a top-10 selection either.

- Luke N. Sims

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Dec 11, 2011; Jacksonville, FL, USA; Jacksonville Jaguars running back Maurice Jones-Drew (32) takes a bow after scoring a touchdown during the fourth quarter against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at EverBank Field. Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports

In a recent interview with Pro Football Talk, ex-Jaguars head coach Mike Mularkey said that he expects star running back Maurice Jones-Drew to have a great year.  Like all people associated with the Jaguars, it wasn’t shocking to Mularkey that the team has said they won’t trade MJD and that they will assess his contract at the end of the season.  It makes sense to almost all of us that Jones-Drew remain a Jaguar, but some media outlets insist that the Jaguars are thinking of cutting ties.

If the Jaguars do cut ties with Jones-Drew it will be after this season, not before it.  The reasoning is simple.  MJD is entering his contract year the season after he only played in six games.  He needs to show that he worth keeping around and worth big money at a dying position.  The NFL is a passing league and backs like MJD need to be durable as well as consistent weapons.  2013 is Jones-Drew’s year to show that 2012 was a fluke and he’s back on track to being the best running back in the league.

“He’s going into that last year of his contract.  Players that tend to go into that last year of a contract and have not had a chance to get an extension, like he was asking, typically go out and have a great year because they are trying to prove their worth to get that extension that they’ve wanted so badly,” said Mularkey.  ”I see him having a great year,” he added.  MJD, being one of those players looking for an extension is poised to have a great year.  His ex-coach knows it and it makes sense that Jones-Drew knows he needs a special season to prove his worth.

- Luke N. Sims

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That’s how sad and depressed the season seemed.

Yet with new head coach Gus Bradley, the Jaguars have a major shift away from the culture that Mularkey had.  The Jaguars, under Bradley, will have energy.

As John Oehser at Jaguars.com said, “What you hear is that when he walks into a press conference Friday morning, anyone wondering why this hire was made will wonder no more. That was the knock at the end of Mularkey’s first season, that there wasn’t enough energy, and although coaching isn’t always emotion and first impressions, Bradley reportedly is a move in a different direction.”  I can’t wait for that press conference.  I’m not expecting Bradley to bound out of the door and onto the raised table like a puppy, but I am anticipating something a bit more motivating than the traditional “we’re going to get this team to the Super Bowl…” that coach-speak tends to be.

With Bradley and Caldwell coming in at similar times, the Jaguars now have wiped the slate completely clean and are inputting their own foundation on which to build.  That foundation features a top-tier personnel mind in Caldwell and a top-tier defensive mind in Bradley.  As people like to say, defense wins championships.  I guarantee that the eyes of Caldwell and Bradley are focused on that Lombardi Trophy.

- Luke N. Sims

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You can also find me on Twitter @LukeNSims