6 quarterback options to replace Blake Bortles

The Jacksonville Jaguars need to move on from Blake Bortles. It’s painfully obvious to anyone who watched his regression last season and now his further regression in training camp that there’s no fixing Bortles. This is a playoff roster with average quarterback play and guess what...

There are average quarterbacks available.

What are the Jaguars’ options when it comes to replacing Bortles immediately?

Free agents

Colin Kaepernick is the obvious frontrunner. He’s better than Bortles statistically and his style of play fits what the Jaguars are trying to do. His penchant for conservative play and minimizing mistakes is perfect for the run-first, run-often style of Doug Marrone and Tom Coughlin.

The only other free agent who would be worth a look is Robert Griffin III who, well, is not that good. Then you’ve got the likes of Christian Ponder, Zach Mettenberger, and Aaron Murray bringing up the rear. Yuck.

The under-30 crowd

Teddy Bridgewater is on the bench for the foreseeable future. Why not go after him? His team would probably give him up for enough trade assets this offseason as opposed to a Matthew Stafford or Kirk Cousins, who are firmly entrenched as the starter with just a few weeks left until the season opener.

Another option could be Brett Hundley, who was rumored to be on the trade block leading up to the 2017 NFL Draft. And Jimmy Garoppolo will always get interest until he signs long-term somewhere.

Jacoby Brissett would be a really fun addition, but how good of a pocket passer is he? He averaged just over 130 yards in the three games he played last year for the New England Patriots.

What about Tyrod Taylor? After the Sammy Watkins trade, it looks like the Buffalo Bills are in an “everything must go” mood.

Is Matt Moore really so bad that Jay Cutler had to come out of retirement? Or would he be an upgrade over Bortles at this point? (Probably.)

A.J. McCarron was rumored to be getting interest from the Jaguars front office, but he’s worse than Bortles, honestly. Is Matt McGloin bad? And don’t you dare with me about Blaine Gabbert.

Older veterans

Alex Smith tops the list here. If he’s on the Jaguars to start the season, this team pushes for an AFC South title. That’s how much of an upgrade Smith would be. He’s a fine short and intermediate thrower. He manages his risk. He makes good reads. And he can sustain drives.

I don’t know the quarterback situation with the San Francisco 49ers, so he may 100% be the starter going forward, but a guy like Brian Hoyer seems like the baseline of “not bad enough to be worse than Bortles”.

Drew Stanton is just under that line, right?

How many more years does Drew Brees have in him after this year? (I’m kidding. Or am I?)

Summary

In all likelihood, there are probably only six legitimate options if the Jaguars wanted to press the panic button now: Colin Kapernick, Matt Moore, Alex Smith, Teddy Bridgewater, Brett Hundley, and Jimmy Garoppolo.