Week 4 vs. New York Jets
After throwing for 377 yards and four TDs in Week 2, Blake Bortles and the Jaguars offense was terrible versus the Titans last Sunday. In the loss to the Titans, the Jaguars scored just six points, with Bortles throwing for 155 yards on 34 attempts. While he ran for 27 yards, he was also sacked three times. He’ll get a chance to be better in front of the home crowd and against a Jets team that struggled against Baker Mayfield last Thursday. However, the Jets are allowing only 204 passing yards per game. Bortles remains a QB2 option this week.
Week 3 vs. Tennessee Titans
What an afternoon Blake Bortles had versus the Patriots last Sunday. He threw for 377 yards and four TDs and ran for an additional 35 yards. He connected with nine different pass-catchers with the four touchdown tosses all going to different players. Bortles likely benefitted from Leonard Fournette missing the game due to a sore hamstring. If Fournette is able to play on Sunday, look for a more balanced attack, which brings Bortles back to the Earth and makes him a QB2 play.
Week 2 vs. New England Patriots
At the Giants last Sunday, Blake Bortles managed the game for the Jaguars, throwing for 176 yards with one touchdown and one interception. The TD pass came on a one-yarder to T.J. Yeldon, as most of Bortles’ tosses were under 10 yards. Last year in the AFC Championship game in New England, the Jaguars opened up the offense, leading to Bortles tossing for 293 yards and a score. With Leonard Fournette battling a hamstring injury, Jacksonville may allow its QB to be more aggressive. The Patriots limited Deshaun Watson to just 176 yards through the air in Week 1, however, so Bortles is still only a QB2 play.
Week 1 at New York Giants
After leading his team to the AFC Championship game last season, Blake Bortles is back for another campaign as the Jaguars QB. While his yardage and TD totals were down in 2017, he completed a career-high 60 percent of his passes and threw a career-low 13 interceptions. But, Bortles will be without top receivers Allen Robinson, Allen Hurns and Marqise Lee this year, which will certainly have an impact on his performance. In the opener against an average Giants defense, he should be used as a QB2 play.
Fantasy Upside
Head coach Doug Marrone made it clear all offseason what Jacksonville expects from Bortles come September: A tangible uptick in play. "We're looking to see great improvement from him going into this next season," Marrone said in February, days after the team laced Bortles with a three-year, $54 million extension packed with $26.5 million in guarantees. This after shrugging off unexpected competition for the starting job last summer to playing with determined success down the stretch in 2017, guiding Jacksonville within a hair of the Super Bowl. Meanwhile, a strong rushing attack and some capable downfield threats should both create additional opportunities for Bortles.
Fantasy Downside
Bortles underwent wrist surgery shortly after the season. He dealt with the issue since December of 2016, and was regularly listed on the injury report late last season, but he rarely missed a practice. He should have ample time to recover but look elsewhere if you want consistent fantasy production. As the Sports Xchange pointed out, when he was on (five games with a passer rating of 119.8 or better) Bortles was really good. But when he was off (five games of 60.3 or worse), the Jaguars either lost or had to rely on the defense to pull out a win. He had four games with more than 300 passing yards, but had four others with less than 160.
2018 Bottom Line
Despite the up-and-down play, Bortles finished last season as fantasy's 13th-best QB. That came after a pair of top-12 fantasy seasons (he was QB9 in 2016 and QB4 in 2015). You could do much worse as your QB2.
AFC Conference Championship at New England Patriots
Blake Bortles played better last week against Pittsburgh than he did the week before, but he once again wasn't asked to do a lot. Most of his passes were safe plays, such as screens or simple play-action throws. Still, he completed 14-of-26 passes for 214 yards and 1 touchdown, while also rushing 5 times for 35 yards. The guess is that he'll have a tough time with New England's secondary, which could mean he resorts to more running, or at least the coaching staff calls more designed runs.
Divisional Round at Pittsburgh Steelers
Of the quarterbacks who played last week, only Derek Anderson, who threw one pass, and Nathan Peterman, who threw three, had fewer passing yards than the 85 posted by Blake Bortles against Buffalo. He did throw a touchdown pass and had 88 yards rushing on 10 attempts, but that's no way to win a fantasy matchup. Bortles is not a good fantasy option this week.
Wild Card Round vs. Buffalo Bills
Blake Bortles couldn't get it done last week against Tennessee, throwing 2 interceptions and posting just 158 passing yards, his lowest total since Week 11 against Cleveland. He now has 5 interceptions in his past two games, and given Buffalo's terrible run defense, Bortles might not attempt more than 25 passes in this game. He's not the worst option this week, but he's not far from it.
Week 17 at Tennessee Titans
Yes, Blake Bortles threw for a season-high 382 yards and 2 touchdowns last week—his fourth consecutive game with at least 2 touchdown passes—but he also threw 3 interceptions. That is not the way the Jaguars want to play. He threw for 223 yards, 1 touchdown, and 2 interceptions in Week 2 against Tennessee. The Titans have been bad on pass defense but Bortles is impossible to trust.
Week 16 at San Francisco 49ers
Blake Bortles posted 326 yards and 3 touchdowns last week, giving him 7 TD passes in the past three games. San Francisco has given up 25 touchdown passes this season, which is a big total. Bortles has been hot of late, but a fantasy starter? That would take something of a leap of faith. The 49ers are ranked 31st in points allowed to QBs but the Jaguars are still a run-first team.
