The Jaguars’ season will hinge on whether quarterback Blake Bortles has made improvements in four key areas: turnovers, pocket awareness, decision-making, and accuracy. Those are more important than any of his mechanical issues, which he worked on extensively during the offseason. Bortles leads the NFL in turnovers (63) since he entered the league, and his career completion percentage is only 58.8 percent, and that’s not good enough.
He has to show significant progress during the joint practices with the Patriots and Buccaneers and the preseason games. The Jaguars drafted Leonard Fournette and are committed to running the ball to take pressure off Bortles, who has averaged 37 pass attempts per game in his three-year career, but he must stop holding the offense back or this will be his final year in Jacksonville.
Related players: Chad Henne, Brandon Allen
The story said Bortles is the starter, but if he continues to turn the ball over and can’t move the offense consistently, coach Doug Marrone may go to either veteran Chad Henne or 2016 sixth-round pick Brandon Allen. Which one will likely depend on when the move is made. If the team is still in the AFC South race, it likely would be Henne, who hasn’t thrown a pass since Week 3 of the 2014 season.
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