Don’t pull the trigger on that trade for Brock Osweiler just yet, Baltimore Ravens. Another quarterback might soon be available. The Jacksonville Jaguars are handing the starter keys to Chad Henne in their upcoming Thursday night game against the Carolina Panthers. Henne will take the field with the first team in what has suddenly become a full on quarterback competition and one, from the stat sheet at least, former first round pick Blake Bortles is losing.
According to the Jaguars, Bortles will also get reps with the first team, but there can be no mistaking what’s happening here. Jacksonville is preparing to move on from Bortles if they can.
Chad Henne to start at QB for Jaguars on Thursday: https://t.co/w0iaJGAx4d pic.twitter.com/Max8H44XL2
— NFL (@NFL) August 23, 2017
With a new head coach in Doug Marrone, this could be the time. I’m not an advocate of tossing Bortles out with the trash, but frankly moving on from Jacksonville might be the best thing for him and the franchise. While I tossed out the Baltimore Ravens earlier, the truth is I think Bortles could do well to sit behind Ben Roethlisberger for a couple of seasons (probably all you’re getting from Big Ben) and learning that offense under Todd Haley.
The truth is, if the Jaguars were willing to ship Bortles off for a second or third round pick, they’d probably have some takers. For his sake, though, I hope they cut him after the season if he doesn’t get his job back. That way he can choose where he wants to play.
The Jaguars picked up his fifth year option, but that won’t preclude a cut if they make that call next off-season. It’ll just cost Jacksonville some cap.
Bortles hasn’t looked sharp in the preseason and is 11-for-18 for 81 yards in the quarters he’s played. Henne has outperformed him, going 11-for-16 for 183 yards and a touchdown. Neither man has thrown a pick.
https://twitter.com/360FFB/status/898351609008271360
Funny thing about Henne, he’s a former high draft pick himself that bottomed out as an NFL back up. He was a second round pick of the Miami Dolphins in 2008 and started for them in them from 2009-2011 when he got hurt four games into the season. He was supposed to be their quarterback of the future. Could he now be the Jaguars’ quarterback of the present?
Henne started 13 games for Jacksonville back in 2013 and went 4-9 with a 60.6 completion percentage, 3,241 yards, 13 touchdowns and 14 interceptions. In all, he’s started 53 games in his NFL career and posted an 18-35 record. While none of that looks impressive, he has Bortles beat.
Behind Henne and Bortles, the Jags have Brandon Allen who isn’t really a factor. Bortles’ best season was 2015 where he completed 58.6 percent of his passes for 4,428 yards, 35 touchdowns and 18 interceptions. He was voted by his peers to the NFL Network’s Top 100 Players of 2016 list after that season. He followed it up with a mediocre 2016 where his numbers were down across the board.
https://twitter.com/BortlesFacts/status/900464078556205056
Other places I’d like to see Bortles get a shot? How about Denver? Or San Francisco? There’s plenty of talent there and it could just be he’s been ruined by three years under Gus Bradley. Don’t give up on him yet, NFL. You don’t have enough quarterbacks as it is.
Trubisky takes first team reps
Regardless of how much money the Chicago Bears spent to get Mike Glennon on the team, they seem to be realizing their best quarterback, by far, is their No. 2 pick out of North Carolina. This week the Bears have been giving Mitchell Trubisky practice reps with the first team offense.
Glennon, of course, was brought in as a free agent this 0ff-season with a three year, $45 million contract with $18.5 million guaranteed. Glennon and Trubisky’s performances have been nowhere close this preseason, with the rookie completely blowing his doors off. Trubisky went 18-of-25 for 166 yards and a touchdown in the preseason opener while Glennon put up a 0.0 quarterback rating and threw a pick six.
I wish all these dummies who freaked out when the Bears drafted Trubisky lived in a world where Glennon was the QB forever. pic.twitter.com/PTpUZfhIS3
— Pointless Exercise (desipio.com) (@desipiodotcom) August 20, 2017
Trubisky has surprised even himself.
“I think I’ve progressed faster than they expected I would,” Trubisky said, “but I’ve still got a long ways to go, and I know that. But I think I’ve shown that I’ve earned these reps, and I just need to continue to get better each day.”
Glennon is still slated to play the entire first half of Chicago’s preseason game against the Tennessee Titans Sunday. Trubisky will likely get all, if not most, the second half.
“Right now, Mike Glennon is the starter,” Bears head coach John Fox told the Chicago Tribune. “He’s going to start preseason (Game) 3, which is a pretty good indicator where you start the (regular) season. I’ll leave it at that.”
Mitch Trubisky's stats through 2 games:
24/33, 226 passing yards, 2 TD's
3 rushes, 38 yards#Bears— Jake Perper (@BearsBacker) August 20, 2017
Glennon started 18 games for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and went 5-13 as a starter. He had a solid rookie season in 2013, completing 59.4 percent of his passes for 3,608 yards, 19 touchdowns and nine picks.
Other NFL News
Oakland Raiders left tackle Donald Penn has ended his holdout and will return to the team. He’s due to make $5.8 million this season. According to the NFL Network, the Raiders have asked Penn to show up to practice “in good faith” to begin negotiations and he’s evidently bought it.
Odell Beckham Jr. was held out of practice Wednesday to rest his injured ankle suffered Monday night against the Cleveland Browns. OBJ is damn lucky it was just an ankle. He appeared to take a shot right on the knee after a reception and, at the time, it did not look good. Beckham Jr. caught 101 passes for 1,367 yards and 10 touchdowns last season. He’s never caught fewer than 91 passes, for fewer than 1,305 yards and for fewer than 10 touchdowns since the Giants drafted him out of LSU in 2014.
The Carolina Panthers got some good news on their second round pick Curtis Samuel. Samuel has been cleared to practice after sitting out the first few weeks of training camp with an injured hamstring. Samuel was a multi-purpose weapon for the Ohio State Buckeyes last season. He rushed 91 times for 771 yards and eight touchdowns and caught 74 passes for 865 yards and seven touchdowns.
If you can believe it, Washington Redskins tight end Jordan Reed returned to practice Wednesday and was a full participant after dealing with a toe injury this off-season.
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