That didn’t last too long. After a week of quarterback controversy in Jacksonville, Jaguars head coach Doug Marrone has named struggling quarterback Blake Bortles as the team’s Week 1 starter.
The team announced its decision on Saturday.
“Bortles, who started the Jaguars’ last 45 regular-season games before Head Coach Doug Marrone opened up the position following an August 17 preseason loss to Tampa Bay, will start the team’s 2017 regular-season opener at Houston on September 10,” the Jaguars said via the team’s official website.
This was thrown into question last week after the turnover-prone Bortles seemingly regressed during training camp and the preseason. In fact, veteran Chad Henne was called on to start this week.
It isn’t necessarily a huge vote of confidence for Bortles. Simply because he was named the opening week starter, it doesn’t mean that the former top-five pick is the long-term solution in Jacksonville.
Bortles, 25, has thrown 51 interceptions in 45 career starts. Needless to say, he’s going to have to fix these issues if he plans to be the team’s long-term starter.