Before the Falcons signed Josh Rosen yesterday, the team took a look at another disappointing former first-round pick. According to ESPN’s Field Yates (on Twitter), Atlanta worked out Blake Bortles recently.
The former third-overall pick has only seen the field for three games since the 2019 season. He spent the 2020 season bouncing on and off the Broncos active roster and practice squad, and he ended the campaign on the Rams practice squad. He signed a deal with the Packers earlier this offseason, but he was cut by the organization last month.
Bortles, of course, disappointed during his five seasons with the Jaguars, where he completed only 59.4-percent of his passes for 92 touchdowns and 58 interceptions. More notably, he had a 24-49 record as a starter, although he did have a three-game postseason run with Jacksonville in 2017.
The Falcons were hunting for a quarterback following the season-ending injury to backup A.J. McCarron. Rosen will likely step up as Matt Ryan‘s primary backup, and the team is also rostering rookie UDFA Feleipe Franks. If Rosen and/or Franks prove that they’re not worth their roster spot, perhaps the organization would give Bortles a second look.
Bortles will hook up somewhere. He’s cemented his position as a journeyman backup now. Rosen still has some potential to redeem his career. He has experience with a Shanahan offense and he can learn behind Ryan.
He can learn but Rosen is done as a Starter in the NFL.
Legit josh mccown 2.0. Good enough to throw in due to injury but not who you will be starting the season with or playing in big games when you need him.
It’s pretty obvious the game model needs to be fixed. Too many teams are totally dependent on a QB whose cost creates havoc with the salary cap structure. In many cases there is absolutely no depth behind these QB starters. If Matt Ryan were to be injured for any significant amount of time the Falcons might as well just tank. Teams are playing 17 games now but we all know that 18 game seasons are not far off. The problem will only get worse if the NFL doesn’t make some changes.
If you’re Blake Bortles and you find out a team passed on you in favor of Josh Rosen, you might start wondering if coaching presents any viable career opportunities…
I’m of the opinion that coaching staffs are already bloated beyond any practical value. I guess some folks figure the solution to everything is to create larger and larger bureaucracies but as an old school fool, I hate that idea.
I’m actually with you there. I’m just not sure Bortles has much of a future left as a player.