Blake Bortles has decided to take his talents to Hollywood.
The former Jacksonville quarterback has agreed to terms on a one-year deal with the Rams that will make him the backup behind Jared Goff in Los Angeles. The former first-round pick was cut by the Jaguars on March 13 after Jacksonville decided to move forward with Nick Foles as their quarterback.
According to NFL.com, the Broncos and Ravens were also interested in potentially adding Bortles. However, those two teams never got to meet with Bortles because the trip to L.A. was the only free agent visit that he decided to take.
Although Bortles won't be the starter in L.A., this seems to be a solid move for both sides. On the Rams' end, the team had been hoping to sign a backup quarterback after they decided to let Sean Mannion walk in free agency. In Bortles, the Rams will be getting a veteran quarterback who could potentially step in if anything happens to Goff.
For Bortles, this was probably an easy decision. The former Jags quarterback will be going from a run-first offense in Jacksonville to a pass-heavy offense utilized by Rams coach Sean McVay in Los Angeles. Under McVay, the Rams threw for a total of 4,507 yards in 2018, which ranked fifth in the NFL. On the other hand, the Jaguars threw for just 3,109 yards, which ranked 26th in the NFL.
Being a backup won't be anything new for Bortles and that's because he lost his job multiple times in Jacksonville. During the 2018 season alone, Bortles was benched twice. First, he was pulled during the third quarter of a 20-7 loss to the Texans in Week 7. Although he eventually got his job back the next week, he was benched again in December.
Bortles had an up-and-down, roller coaster career in Jacksonville that basically crashed toward the end, although there were several bright spots. In 2015, Bortles set the franchise record for most passing yards in a season when he threw for 4,428 yards. Bortles was also solid during the Jaguars run to the playoffs in 2017. The highlight of his career probably came during the postseason that year when he threw for a combined 594 yards and three touchdowns while leading the Jags to the AFC title game. The impressive run by Bortles earned him a three-year, $54 million extension that included $26.5 million in guaranteed money.
The problem with Bortles is that the Jags just couldn't ever count on him. The quarterback completed just 59.3 percent of his passes over his five seasons while throwing 75 interceptions, which was the most of any quarterback in the NFL over that span.
McVay is already considered an offensive genius, but we might have to up that word to savant if he ends up turning Bortles' career around.
