Blake Bortles plans to fully participate in OTAs, despite wrist surgery

One of the first thing that Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Blake Bortles was asked about after signing his contract extension was about his wrist. Bortles underwent clean-up surgery on his wrist a few weeks ago, which led many to believe that he wouldn’t be able to pass the team physical and his fifth-year option would be locked in. According to Bortles however, it doesn’t seem like that would have been an issue had it come down to that and he didn’t have the new extension.

“It has been four weeks on Friday. It has been a day over four weeks. I had a partially torn ligament on the outside, which he repaired and then on the inside or right on top was inflamed and he cleaned up. It was a scope or more of a cleanup type of procedure and four-to-six weeks is what he said [for the rehab],” Bortles said when asked about the procedure. “It has been four weeks now. I threw Monday, Wednesday and Friday of last week in a limited capacity, and I will continue that program through the six week mark and then I should be good to go and 100 percent.”

With Bortles already throwing multiple days in a row without ill effect, it should be no surprise he expects to be ready for OTAs and this upcoming season, without the lingering wrist issue. While Bortles played through the injury, he seemed to indicate he was never actually close to missing any time due to it.

“I think I got three cortisone shots and a PRP shot,” Bortles said when asked about getting shots on the wrist during the season. “The PRP shot didn’t do anything at all and by the third cortisone shot they were starting to last less and less, so by the end of it they didn’t want to do anymore cortisone shots. Let’s make it through the season and get it fixed and get it right after the year.”

One thing you can’t ever criticize Bortles for is his toughness and willingness to put his body on the line, sometimes to a scary/frustrating level, but it is a quality you want in your quarterback because it means he’s on the field even when he’s dinged up.

Going forward it was good that Bortles went ahead and got it fixed, that way even if he missed a few practices during OTAs it’s just OTAs.