ESPN’s Mike DiRocco has some good, bad, and ugly suggestions to replace Blake Bortles

The Jacksonville Jaguars have to replace Blake Bortles this offseason so when ESPN’s Mike DiRocco says that it’s the top priority of this franchise he’s right.

But when he starts listing possible solutions, it goes from “yeah, sure” to “sweet Christ, no” real quick.

DiRocco lists 18 quarterbacks in his “Could Eli, Flacco or Jameis replace Blake Bortles in 2019?” article from this morning and we’re going to POWER RANK EACH OF THEM.

Good

If I had my way — and if Cody Kessler plays adequately over the final five games of the season — my plan going into the 2019 season would be to cut Bortles, keep Kessler, sign a veteran, and draft a guy in the first round. The days of pussyfooting around the most important position in professional sports is over.

Justin Herbert and Dwayne Haskins are guys I like from my minimal viewing of both. They’re also highly regarded by #smart people I trust, so right now I’d say they’re at the top.

Daniel Jones reads the field extremely well (props to Zach Goodall of Locked On Jaguars for his write up of Jones). He’s also likely to be available in the second round. Go get a tight end in the first round and a guy like Jones in the second.

Ryan Fitzpatrick is immortal and handles the back-and-forth nature of this sort of scenario really, really well. He’s also not a bad quarterback! If we go the route of Kessler, veteran, and rookie, then Fitzpatrick would be at the top of my list.

Teddy Bridgewater would also be a great veteran addition, but I’m assuming he’s looking for a scenario where he can be a starter and if the Jaguars are getting a quarterback in the first round he likely wouldn’t want to come here.

Bad

Ryan Finley is, in the words of @JaxonFil, a no for me, dawg.

Will Grier is a rough prospect to judge. He wouldn’t be able to start right away, which is why you’d have two veterans going into camp, but he’s got a strong arm. He just needs to work on consistently reading the field and making quicker decisions. His highs are high and his lows are low. He can get better if he has the right coaching. And I don’t think the Jaguars have that... so, no.

Drew Lock is from Missouri and the dude could be Tom Brady in a Tigers uniform, I don’t want this team to ever draft another quarterback from Missouri or UCF ever again.

Nick Foles would come cheaper than most other veterans, but he’s not as good. He’s probably a slight upgrade over Kessler, so even though he’s in the Bad category he’s probably a little more in the Meh field.

None of Josh McCown, Tyrod Taylor, or Geno Smith would be my first choice.

Ugly

Eli Manning is washed up. He’s done. He’s absolutely done. Don’t you dare close the door on this defense by signing him.

Joe Flacco has the skill level you’d want out of a veteran quarterback competing alongside a rookie and Kessler, but he’d require a trade and his cap number is $26.5 million next year. No sir.

Ryan Tannehill is in the same boat at Flacco — a $26.6 million cap hit on top of a trade would not be ideal.

Jameis Winston is just as bad as Blake. Absolutely not. Same goes for Robert Griffin III and Matt Barkley.