Dave Caldwell: Blake Bortles had "dead arm" at end of 2014 season

The Jacksonville Jaguars wrapped up OTA practices recently and general manager Dave Caldwell is excited about the prospect of quarterback Blake Bortles getting some rest for his arm.

That's because Bortles had what Caldwell described as a "dead arm" towards the end of last year and that his rookie quarterback suffered from inflammation in his arm and shoulder.

When speaking with USA Today's Tom Pelissero, Caldwell said it was a lot more than simply growing pains that caused Bortles to stumble his rookie season.

"People don't realize that as you look later in the season, he was on injury report. You've just got to do what you've got to do to survive. It wasn't anything that was ingrained in him (mechanically). He knew he was doing it. But in order to drive the ball 15 yards, there were some things that he needed to do to get the velocity on the ball."

Caldwell said that Bortles arm and shoulder didn't require surgery, but that 17 straight months of throwing the football through the NFL Draft, training camp, preseason, and the regular season was a problem that caused him to be limited in practice.

"We know, come game day, he can do the stuff -- the off-schedule things, the out-of-the-pocket stuff -- that's part of the reason we drafted him. But now that this is looking the way it's supposed to, it's encouraging."

In 14 games, Bortles averaged 207 yards per game, but finished with just 11 touchdowns to 17 interceptions.