How Blake Bortles Changed the Narrative
Blake Bortles was just named unto NFL Network's top 100 players, much to the chagrin of the sabermetric NFL community. The list, composed by NFL players, usually is reserved for the players that were game changers the previous season. Bortles is 56 on that list. Some will argue that ranking is too high for a quarterback that led the NFL in interceptions last season and is known as a gunslinger. But Bortles did have the second most touchdown passes last year along with 4,400 yards passing and broke Jacksonville franchise records. Despite all the hate that Bortles gets from the want to be sabermatricians, he is highly regarded by his teammates and the opposition. Just listen to how some of those players describe him. His teammates call him the leader and the player that makes the Jaguars offense go. They have such an adoration for him. The opponents talk about his toughness and his big play ability. About how he is the future of the Jaguars franchise. But heading into the 2014 NFL Draft, these accolades were supposed to fall upon Manziel and not Bortles.
The narrative heading into the 2014 draft was where would Manziel go. Some of the projections had Manziel going first overall even over Clowney. Some had him falling to the third round. For months the fans had to endure as scouts poked and prodded every aspect of Manziel's game. How he was a risk taker and had a tendency to improvise. How he wasn't tall, just like Doug Flutie. Manziel was supposed to be the second coming of Brett Favre in terms of charisma and style of play. Yes, Manziel was supposed to be the golden child. Manziel was supposed to be the star that could cross multiple media avenues. Of course his issues both on the field and off of it have been well documented. So there is no need to beat a dead horse even more. Instead it's time to celebrate the player that has become what Manziel was supposed to be.
Blake Bortles will always hold a special place in a UCF fans heart. In fact he is the most beloved player in UCF history. Yes even more than Culpepper, Kevin Smith and Brandon Marshall. He took UCF, a program with no history, to the Fiesta Bowl and won the game despite being a 20 point underdog. Bortles should have been one of the stories about the 2014 draft. Instead he was labeled a risk and probable bust. Those uninformed, who probably only watched 1 or 2 UCF games, said all he threw were bubble screens. That Bortles was only going to be drafted high because of only one game. That they did not know who Bortles was prior to the Fiesta Bowl. In fact College Gameday famously ran a segment where the likes of Les Miles and Dabo Swinny did not know who Bortles was. Of course these same pundits did not watch Bortles carry the team against Penn State, did not witness him make one of the most athletic plays you will see vs Temple, did not see Bortles throw the perfect deep ball to Breshad Perriman to beat USF. The narrative was already complete that Bortles was going to be the bust. In fact one scout said this: "II just had an NFL QB coach tell me Bortles reminds him of Blaine Gabbert…wow!" Teddy Bridgewater was the most ready to start, Derek Carr was going to be the steal of the class, Johnny Manziel was going to be the star, and Bortles was to be the bust.
A funny thing happened since then. Yes, Bridgewater and Carr look very good and have lived up to the billing. But the role between Bortles and Manziel flipped. While Bortles did struggle his first year in the league throwing 17 interceptions to 11 touchdowns, Manziel was virtually nonexistent. Some had even gone on to say that Bortles and Manziel were busts already. But UCF fans knew what was coming. Knew that Bortles would develop his second year as a starter. After all he had done so at UCF. Bortles NFL career is beginning to mimic his collegiate one. He had been unremarkable his first year while splitting quarterback duties(6 TDs to 3 INTs) Yet his second season as a starter Bortles began to break out(25 TDs-7INTs) culminating in the Beef O Brady's Bowl performance where he won the mvp for that game(yes that game oddly had an mvp). And we all know what happened this third season. You see once Blake becomes familiar with a system and gets the speed of the game down, he starts to shine.
They say that the mark of a good quarterback is making those around him better. Well Bortles has done just that in the NFL. He had shown flashes of this at UCF making Breshad Perriman and Rannell Hall into NFL receivers. Now some will say that Hurns and Robinson are more responsible for Bortles' success than he is for theirs. Those people are wrong. Bortles threw 72 passes for 20+ yards last year. 11 of those went for 40+ yards. Not so bad for a quarterback who could only throw bubble screens. Allen Hurns and Allen Robinson were Pro Bowlers this season. Well Hurns should have been, but that is besides the point. Bortles made these two wide receivers better. Let us not forget that Hurns was an undrafted rookie and Bortles has turned Hurns into a pro bowl caliber player. Imagine if they had a check down quarterback like Alex Smith or gulp if Chad Henne were still the starter. These are not just little screens that the receivers are catching then taking into touchdowns. These are typically deep passes. Robinson and Hurns are some of the brightest young receivers in the game today. That is do in large part because of Bortles ability to make players around him better.
When you hear people compare Bortles to a player now a days it's Farve. Not because Bortles has won a Super Bowl or that Bortles has the skill set that Brett did, but because the cavalier nature that the qb plays with. Bortles has shown that he can scramble and make plays when a play is thought to be dead. He can make athletic displays that no one thought he had in him. Look at the game against the Dolphins this year. With the pocket breaking down, Bortles scrambles a bit and throws a 48 yard gem to Allen Robinson, while Robinson was in stride. Another quarterback may have tried to hit another option, but not Bortles. He has the confidence to throw wherever he wants the ball to go. This obviously was not the case his rookie season. The Jaguars offense handcuffed Bortles, trying to run essentially the UCF offense at the NFL level the check downs and running back screens. The handcuffs harmed the Jaguars as they had the 31st ranked offense in the NFL. This caused the detractors to come out of the woodwork that they were right that Bortles was just a checkdown, bubble screen quarterback.
Well the handcuffs came off of Bortles this year. We all know the traditional stats this season, but what about the advanced metrics? Well first off let us remove QBR from the equation. QBR is a bullshit stastic that was made up by ESPN that they don't even know how to use. Let us look at other metrics. From a Monday Morning QB article:"Bortles' average depth of target has gone from 7.4 yards (30 of 32 quarterbacks in 2014) to 10.1 (sixth); his rate of 20+ yard passes has risen from 10.5% of throws (26th) to 16.8% of throws (third). He's cut down his halfback screens from more than twice the NFL average and replaced them with go routes and posts. The go routes in particular have been very effective; his passer rating here is 113.0, well above the NFL average (86.7) for the throw." So Bortles isn't as bad as QBR would makes him out to be. Yes, Bortles needs to cut back on the interceptions, he was after all the int leader this past season. However, the carelessness is part of why Bortles is going to be a star. He's not afraid to make the throws that some QBs are scared to make.
For a player that was hardly known outside of the diehard UCF fans, Bortles has grown in popularity. He is a rising star in the NFL. Maybe it's the name or maybe it's because of his attractive former girlfriend. The rise in popularity can also be attributed to Bortles winning many fantasy football leagues. Or maybe it's the fact that Bortles has stayed exactly the same. Blake is still the same guy that does not care what others think about him see his Twitter on draft night or when someone comes at him with the QBR stat. He's just a bro that happens to be a NFL quarterback. Rather than the same old qb speak that so many have become experts at, Bortles remains authentic. Go watch his interview with Barstool Sports during the Super Bowl week. He doesn't shy away from questions and has a sense of humor about the whole thing. Hell he is so self deprecating that he has taken the whole Blake Bortles read a Wikipedia page that Pardon My Take created and run with it. Other quarterbacks would probably be insulted, but not Blake. In a NFL that has become so diluted with no celebrations, no fun, etc. Blake Bortles remains a entertaining bright spot.
Blake Bortles has not only shifted the narrative about him, but shattered it.
