Blake Bortles

Jets Have Contacted Only Chad Henne, Colt McCoy; Latest On Aaron Rodgers’ Recovery

The Jets are 1-1 and reeling from Aaron RodgersAchilles injury, which ended the future Hall of Famer’s season after four snaps and thrust Zach Wilson back into the starting lineup. We heard in the immediate aftermath of the Rodgers news that New York was exploring the free agent market for veteran passers and had inquired on retired QB Chad Henne.

Dianna Russini of The Athletic (subscription required) confirms that the Jets have indeed reached out to Henne, who has rebuffed their overtures. “The timing doesn’t work,” Henne said.

Gang Green has also contacted Colt McCoy, who was released by the Cardinals on cutdown day and who was mentioned as a possible Jets target several days ago. McCoy, 37, indicated that he has several offers in hand and expects to sign with a club shortly. He had been dealing with an elbow injury, though he should be ready to play this week.

The Jets told both Henne and McCoy that if they were to sign with the team, they would be doing so with the understanding that Wilson is the starter. As a team source told Russini, “[w]e have Zach. Zach Wilson is our best option.” 

Offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett was pleased with what Wilson was able to do when he was forced to enter the team’s Week 1 contest against the Bills in relief of Rodgers, and Hackett was also impressed by the progress Wilson made throughout the spring and summer. Wilson appears to have earned the trust of the locker room, with another team source telling Russini that Wilson’s character is “off the charts.” The team has changed “about half of the game plan” to play to Wilson’s strengths, including an overall simplification of the offense.

The organizational view on Wilson explains why, as Russini reports, the Jets have no plans to pursue a more accomplished signal-caller like Tom Brady, Philip Rivers, Ben Roethlisberger, or Joe Flacco (Blake Bortles is reportedly not under consideration either). As Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero of NFL.com report, Brady’s purchase of a stake in the Raiders is not yet finalized and is unlikely to be finalized until October at the earliest. Until then, Brady can techincally sign with any team he chooses, but as we noted previously, he continues to insist that he will remain retired.

Rich Cimini of ESPN.com suggests that the Jets, who have the league’s most difficult strength of schedule over the next five games, could reassess the situation over their Week 7 bye. If they are still in playoff position but feel Wilson is holding them back, they could expand their QB search at that time.

Rodgers, of course, has not closed the door on an in-season return. The reason for such optimism, as Rapoport and Pelissero explain in a separate piece, is that Rodgers underwent an innovative surgery to accelerate the rehabilitation process.

The NFL.com duo, building on an earlier report from Russini and The Athletic colleague Jourdan Rodrigue (subscription required), say that a type of internal brace called a “speed bridge” was placed on Rodgers’ torn Achilles. The procedure, which was performed by well-known orthopedic surgeon Dr. Neal ElAttrache, could allow Rodgers to be back on the field right around the time the postseason begins.

The procedure does involve risk, but Rodgers determined that the possibility of helping his new club make a playoff run this season was worth taking a chance. The 39-year-old (40 in December) could also receive platelet-rich plasma injections to move his recovery along.

QB Blake Bortles Announces Retirement

Blake Bortles is not planning to continue his efforts at returning to a team’s active roster. The former No. 3 overall pick announced his retirement during an appearance on Barstool Sports’ Pardon My Take podcast.

The longtime Jaguars starter has not played in a regular-season game since the 2019 season, when he appeared in three as Jared Goff‘s backup with the Rams. But he has bounced around the league in the years since, last being with a team in April. The Saints released Bortles at that point, and the former AFC championship game starter said during the podcast he has not touched a football since January.

Since his 2019 Rams signing, Bortles caught on with the Broncos and Packers and also circled back to the Rams. He finished his career as a Saints emergency roster option, amid the team’s COVID-19 surge during the Omicron variant’s height. Mostly from his rookie contract and the three-year, $54MM extension he signed with the Jaguars in 2018, Bortles walks away from the game having made more than $47MM. The Jags bailing on that deal after one season, however, abruptly ended the oft-scrutinized passer’s run as a starter.

The Central Florida product started 73 career games, and while he ended up being benched months after signing that extension, the former Doug Marrone pupil had Jacksonville on the cusp of a Super Bowl LII berth. Bortles threw for 293 yards in a narrow AFC championship game loss in New England, doing so after the Jaguars won a divisional-round shootout in Pittsburgh.

Despite having chosen Blaine Gabbert in the top 10 three years prior, the Jags went back to the Round 1 QB well with Bortles, who came off the 2014 board far earlier than his QB contemporaries — in a class that included Johnny Manziel, Teddy Bridgewater and Derek Carr. Numerous The Good Place references aside, Bortles frequently drew criticism during his rocky Jags tenure. Working with Allen Robinson and Allen Hurns, Bortles finished the 2015 season with 35 touchdown passes. But the Jags went 5-11 that year; Bortles then struggled in 2016. He threw 51 interceptions from 2014-16, but the team nevertheless stuck with its starter — as Marrone replaced Gus Bradley as HC– leading to a 2017 outlier season that nearly produced one of the most unlikely Super Bowl entrants in the game’s history.

Jacksonville assembled a strong defense in 2017 — one that led the league in DVOA and lived up to its “Sacksonville” nickname — helping the team to a 10-6 record and the AFC title game. The Jags could not sustain that formula in 2018 and began a decline that led to their talented defense splintering and, eventually, the Urban Meyer year. The Jags released Bortles in March 2019, taking on $16.5MM in dead money as they pivoted to one-and-done option Nick Foles. Bortles concludes his career with 103 touchdown passes and 75 interceptions; his 17,646 passing yards are second-most (behind Mark Brunell) in Jags history.

Saints To Release Blake Bortles

With the top two spots on the quarterback depth chart accounted for, the Saints will be moving on from Blake Bortles. Adam Schefter of ESPN reports (on Twitter) that the veteran has asked for his release, and that the team will accommodate him. 

The 29-year-old signed with the Saints in December when New Orleans desperately needed help at the position. With Jameis Winston injured and both Taysom Hill and Trevor Siemian unavailable due to COVID-19, he provided the team with an experienced backup behind Ian Book. He didn’t see any game action in New Orleans, however, which continued an ongoing trend in that regard.

Bortles has bounced around to the Rams, Broncos, Packers and – most recently – Saints over the course of the last three years. He’s only been on the field for 11 snaps during that span, though. His last meaningful playing time came during his five years with the Jaguars. That span included a trip to the AFC title game in 2017, but was otherwise underwhelming, especially considering his draft status.

New Orleans re-signed Winston to be their starter once again, but also added veteran Andy Dalton to be the backup. With those two on the roster (along with Hill, though the team doesn’t view him as a QB moving forward), the former third overall pick will now look to catch on with another new team.

NFL Reserve/Futures Contracts: 1/12/22

A number of players continue to sign reserve/futures contracts, which allows organizations to retain (mostly) young, practice squad players throughout the offseason. We’ve compiled today’s reserve/futures contracts below:

Atlanta Falcons

Chicago Bears

Denver Broncos

  • DE Jonathan Kongbo

Detroit Lions

Indianapolis Colts

New Orleans Saints

Minnesota Vikings

  • G Kyle Hinton

New York Jets

Washington Football Team

NFL Reserve/Futures Contracts: 1/11/22

A number of players continue to sign reserve/futures contracts, which allows organizations to retain (mostly) young, practice squad players throughout the offseason. We’ve compiled today’s reserve/futures contracts below:

Carolina Panthers

Denver Broncos

Kansas City Chiefs

Los Angeles Chargers

Los Angeles Rams

New England Patriots

New Orleans Saints

New York Giants

Tennessee Titans

Washington Football Team

NFL COVID-19 List Updates: 1/6/22

Here are the Thursday additions and subtractions from teams’ reserve/COVID-19 lists:

Atlanta Falcons

Baltimore Ravens

Carolina Panthers

Chicago Bears

Cincinnati Bengals

Cleveland Browns

Dallas Cowboys

Denver Broncos

Detroit Lions

Houston Texans

Jacksonville Jaguars

Las Vegas Raiders

Minnesota Vikings

New Orleans Saints

Pittsburgh Steelers

Seattle Seahawks

Minor NFL Transactions: 12/27/21

Today’s minor moves:

Buffalo Bills

Cincinnati Bengals

Jacksonville Jaguars

New Orleans Saints

Washington Football Team

Saints’ COVID Surge

Yesterday, the Saints saw 9 players hit the reserve/COVID-19 list including quarterbacks Taysom Hill and Trevor Siemian who were expected to handle the duties behind center for the rest of the year with Jameis Winston on IR with a torn ACL. In addition to those two, guard James Carpenter, linebacker Kaden Elliss, defensive back Jeff Heath, defensive end Jalyn Holmes, defensive back Malcolm Jenkins, defensive tackle Christian Ringo, and tackle Jordan Mills all found themselves on the COVID list. Besides the quarterbacks and full-time starter Jenkins, the other six players have a combined 8 starts between them.

With three quarterbacks currently unavailable for Monday Night’s matchup with the Dolphins, the Saints are expected to start the rookie fourth-round pick out of Notre Dame, Ian Book. As we reported earlier this morning, New Orleans also made the move of signing Blake Bortles as a contingency plan behind Book.

Well, despite the addition, the Saints didn’t fair any better today, losing full-time starters Ryan Ramczyk at tackle and Demario Davis at linebacker to the reserve/COVID-19 list, as well as reserves running back Dwayne Washington and safety J.T. Gray.

With the losses, the Saints will continue to operate with a depleted roster, like every other NFL team this year. The Saints’ lineup now lacks the likes of regular starters like Winston, Hill, Jenkins, Ramczyk, Davis, kicker Wil Lutz, tackle Andrus Peat, tight end Adam Trautman, and wide receiver Michael Thomas. Although they look like a shell of the team they could be at full strength, the Saints, along with the rest of the NFL, will continue to work to make the most of a bad situation as they currently sit only two spots outside of the final Wild Card spot with a 7-7 record, losing the tiebreakers to current 7-seed Minnesota and 8-seed Philadelphia.

NFL Practice Squad Updates: 12/24/21

Here are the league’s practice squad moves from Christmas Eve:

Buffalo Bills

Cleveland Browns

Denver Broncos

Kansas City Chiefs

Miami Dolphins

New Orleans Saints

Saints To Sign QB Blake Bortles

Severely shorthanded at quarterback, the Saints will add an emergency backup option. Blake Bortles is expected to sign with the team Friday, Jeff Duncan of NOLA.com tweets.

Taysom Hill and Trevor Siemian landed on the reserve/COVID-19 list Thursday, moving Ian Book to the top of the depth chart. Book is still set to start, with Duncan adding Bortles will be New Orleans’ backup against the Dolphins on Monday night.

Bortles caught on with the Packers on multiple occasions this year, during Aaron Rodgers‘ holdout and his subsequent COVID-induced absence, but has not seen any game action in two years. Although Bortles stopped over with the Rams and Broncos in 2019 and ’20, he has taken just two snaps since the Jaguars cut him.

The former top-five pick has 73 starts to his credit; all came with Jacksonville from 2014-18. The Jags cut bait on their 2018 extension a year into the deal. Bortles, 29, has bounced around since. With Book having never taken a regular-season snap, Bortles at least serves as an experienced arm for a suddenly thin Saints team.