Chad Henne named starter for Thursday night preseason game

The Jacksonville Jaguars now find themselves in a position that would have seemed laughable this time last year – they are starting Chad Henne.

After spending some time yesterday discussing an ESPN article that had Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Blake Bortles listed as a bottom tier quarterback, we now have to discuss Chad Henne, the team’s new starter.

This is a move almost everyone saw coming after Doug Marrone‘s damning comments in the postgame press conference last week. Blake Bortles needed to come in against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and show some form of competence with the starting offense to alleviate the growing concerns about his long term development. Instead, Bortles failed to lead the offense to any points and his horrific night was highlighted by two downright awful throws to Allen Robinson.

After his atrocious few drives at QB, Bortles was replaced by veteran Chad Henne and the journeyman went on to throw two dropped touchdown passes with his first few throws.

Those throws appeared to mark the end of Bortles as the starting quarterback for the Jaguars.

Despite the announcement, it appears Marrone wants to continue the QB drama by also giving Bortles some reps with the first team.

More from Jacksonville Jaguars News

• Jacksonville Jaguars should welcome Derrick Henry into the kingdom
• Jaguars Rumors: Trent Baalke seems to be getting respect now
• Jaguars News: This division rival might be making a big move
• Former Jacksonville Jaguars S Johnathan Cyprien: “New Profession, Same Standards”
• Jacksonville Jaguars TE Evan Engram officially gets the franchise tag: 3 takeaways

This seems contrived and actually a bit silly – giving Bortles first team reps at this point is a no-win situation. You take away snaps from the guy who should be preparing to start week 1 in Chad Henne, and you give Bortles a chance to open the wound by playing well (maybe even better) than Henne in a meaningless preseason game.

There are now two big questions moving forward:

What does the team do with Bortles?

Are they going to add another quarterback?

I think those two questions are one in the same, as the Jaguars will probably look to add another passer. If they do, they will cut Bortles loose and avoid the financial albatross that is his fifth year option.

At the end of the day, this is the team finally admitting what most already knew – Bortles is yet another first round bust.