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Bortles Has Work to Do to Avoid “Bust” Label

By Daniel Lago

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Heading into his sophomore season, quarterback Blake Bortles appears to be doing all the right things to improve upon what was a statistically underwhelming rookie season. He’s spent time in California working with quarterback coaches, and he’s held passing camps to build a rapport with his receivers.

Still, Bortles needs to translate his work in the offseason to productivity in the regular season to work his way to the middle of the pack as far as quarterback play.

George Stockburger over at NFL Mocks highlighted Bortles as one of the second year players who needs to improve to shake off the “bust” label:

"Blake Bortles – Jacksonville Jaguars 3rd Overall PickJaguars fans are hoping that someday they don’t look back on this draft and shockingly realize they took Blake Bortles over Teddy Bridgewater or Odell Beckham Jr. With the exceptional receiving group Jacksonville has put together consisting of Julius Thomas, Rashad Greene and Allen Robinson, among others, and some offensive line additions, Blake Bortles should not be having as many issues getting the ball to his guys. The third overall pick finished last season with 2900 yards and threw six more interceptions than touchdowns. Not what fans, coaches, and owners look for in their franchise quarterback. He has the skills of an NFL quarterback, but can he be part of the turn around in Jacksonville?"

Besides the standard statistics, Bortles was the worst quarterback in the league by basically any metric. He had the lowest total QBR in the entire NFL and he started to look sluggish and sloppy at points last season. He’s in better shape this year and he’s been working to hone his mechanics, but we’ll have to wait and see in September whether or not that will translate come game time.

Next: Running back a good position battle

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