Quarterback Competition

Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Gus Bradley opened up a can of worms on Tuesday by declaring an open competition at the quarterback position this training camp.

Quarterback has been discussed ad nauseam this off season and my stance hasn’t changed much over the course of the last few weeks. While Coach Bradley claims the competition is completely open, the starting quarterback job is Blaine Gabbert’s to lose.

"“We’ve had competition battles throughout our team… I want that throughout our team at every position.”-Head Coach Gus Bradley"

Jun 13, 2013; Jacksonville, FL, USA; Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Chad Henne (7) signals to the offense during a mini camp held at the Florida Blue Health

At the end of the season though, it’s very likely we’ll all look back at how much effort was put into discussing the quarterback position in the offseason and laugh. Whether it’s Blaine Gabbert, Chad Henne, Mike Kafka, or Matt Scott, the Jaguars are probably going to be below average to poor at the quarterback position. Unless Gabbert improves at an unprecedented rate, he won’t provide much in the way of playmaking anymore than he has the past two seasons. Chad Henne is what he is at this point and has almost no upside. Mike Kafka is on his third team and rookie Matt Scott went undrafted.

The Jaguars have a lot of intriguing young players to watch this season, but unfortunately quarterback is going to be one of the weakest positions overall on the roster. Let’s all give this quarterback competition talk a rest and let this season play out. In all likelihood the Jaguars will have a new first round pick under center next year.

– Daniel Lago

Yell at me on Twitter @dlago89