Blake Bortles Q&A: Adjusting After a Frustrating Rookie Year

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — If Blake Bortles feels any pressure over what happened, he doesn't show it. The second-year quarterback and 2014 No. 3 overall pick of the Jacksonville Jaguars is pretty relaxed as he tries to rebound from a difficult rookie season in which he threw 17 interceptions.

Bortles regressed as the season wore on, a combination of injuries (shoulder and toe), questionable coaching (the Jaguars changed offensive coordinators in the offseason) and typical learning pains.

Then again, just getting on the field was something of an accomplishment for Bortles. The plan going into last season was for him to sit almost the entire year to work on throwing mechanics. Instead, he was a starter by the end of the first month after a strong preseason showing.

This offseason, he has continued to work on the mechanics of his game, spending time in California working with renowned throwing coach Tom House and his team of specialists.

Bleacher Report spoke with Bortles recently about the early challenges he's faced and how he's adjusting.

Bleacher Report: You're hardly the first quarterback to spend time with a throwing coach, but how do you keep all the voices straight in your head? You have throwing coaches, offensive coordinator, quarterback coach…that's a lot of instruction.

Bortles: One thing that was cool about those guys (throwing coaches House, Adam Dedeaux and former NFL quarterback John Beck) is that I walked in and House said right away, "I don't know anything about football. I'm not going to talk to you about football. I'm not going to teach you about football. I'm here to teach you how to be more efficient in your throwing." So it was kind of cool to have somebody say that instead of saying, "I'm here to make you a better passer."

As long as you're surrounded by people—and sometimes you're in control of that and sometimes you're not—who listen and teach, you're going to be OK. (Offensive coordinator Greg Olson) is unbelievable at that. As long as you have guys who just care about you getting better as a player and do whatever it takes.

John Raoux/Associated Press

B/R: OK, but even when you're dealing with little leaguers, there's a way that coaches talk to athletes, and they want that message to be consistent. If you have too many coaches saying different things, it can be confusing.

Bortles: No one person always says it the same way, but one thing that was cool is that I worked with Jordan Palmer and Tom House out in L.A., and they talked between themselves and made sure they were on the same page. Jordan's big thing was, "Hey, if you come work out with me, I want to be speaking the same language as Tom."

And here, Ollie (Olson) is super open to anything. He has had conversations with Tom House in the past, prior to (Olson's) working in Oakland. So Ollie knows what House is doing, so it's not out there and something he doesn't understand. Ollie said, "Hey, go do it, and here are some pointers and some tips on things you need to work on." So you have a stable environment in terms of what I'm trying to learn, and that allows me to block out the rest.

B/R: Did the fact both your parents were college athletes help you sort that out a little better? Did they coach you very much?

Bortles: My dad did a little bit. Mostly just baseball; he didn't coach me in football. But they really, because they had been through it, they were always just saying, "Go out and have fun. Have a good time." My dad was a wrestler and my mom played college softball, but they were never out in the front yard coaching and trying to tell me what to do. It was like, "Hey, go out there and figure it out." They weren't the overbearing parents, which is good.

B/R: At the end of last season, when you were struggling statistically, who were you talking to as you tried to deal with it?

Bortles: Jordan Palmer was probably my mentor going through the whole thing, so he was somebody I kept in contact with throughout the season and who I talk to every week even now. (Backup quarterback) Chad (Henne) was somebody who I also talked to and was unbelievable. So Jordan was on the outside and Chad was on the inside. Chad was great because he's someone who has been through everything and could help me deal with it. He played as a rookie, so he knew what that was like.

B/R: Who is tougher, your mom or your dad?

Bortles: Oh, my dad…

B/R: There's a story in there, I can see it in your eyes.

Bortles: When me and my brother were like six or seven, we would get the spankings with the wooden spoon. She would do it, and it would stop hurting, and we would laugh at her. She would get all pissed. Then it became, "Wait until your father gets home."

B/R: So he would take care of business?

Bortles: Oh yeah.

B/R: You ever wrestle your dad?

Bortles: Yeah, it didn't go well.

B/R: Ever get close to beating him?

Bortles: Not a chance. Not even close. Probably not even now. I have no chance.

B/R: Was he a heavyweight wrestler?

Bortles: He had to put on weight because he couldn't beat anybody on the team (at Georgia Tech) except the heavyweight. So he put on a bunch of weight, beat the heavyweight, ended up about 225 pounds. Now he's about 255, 260.

B/R: So he's a bear of a man.

Bortles: Oh yeah, and I can't take him, as bad as that is to say. I wish it wasn't true, but I probably have no shot. He has that old-man strength, too.

B/R: Yeah, my sons don't believe in that. My 16-year-old keeps trying to kick my butt, and I tell him, "I have old-man strength."

Bortles: It's true. That's another level. The last time I tried was high school. But I have everything else. I have ping pong. Most of the time, I have golf. He still can do it in golf sometimes. But I have all the other sports now.

David J. Phillip/Associated Press

B/R: As people talked about you struggling last year, did it ever get inside your head?

Bortles: No, I think I have always been pretty good about being able to compartmentalize and ignore all the other things. I would come in and talk to (head coach) Gus (Bradley) for hours at a time. Those conversations were always really good. He's another person who was good to talk to. It was always about getting better. I would sit there and he would just say to me, "How are you approaching this?" If he had a different idea than me, he might say, "Well, this is how I would do it." It's never just an order. It's encouragement and positive thinking.

B/R: What's the best thing he ever said?

Bortles: With Gus, the conversations he has with me are always stimulating. He's always challenging me to think about situations, as a player, a person. Again, he'll throw a situation at you and say, "OK, how would you handle this? What would you do?" There isn't always a right or wrong answer. You tell him what you would do, then he tells you what he thinks. He'll say, "I think this is the mindset we should have." We talk about field stuff. We talk about locker room stuff. We talk about life stuff. He is unbelievable. I can talk to him about anything and he will have a perspective on it, but it's never to the point of overbearing. It's just, "This is how I look at life," and it's cool because I think of it the same way.

B/R: Have you ever struggled athletically the way you did last season?

Bortles: No, never. A lot of it is, I got to a point where I was physically subpar, so there was a lot going into it. But it's something where we were in a lot of games and we just couldn't make a play. We were close but not quite there. I felt like I belonged, but not where I need to be.

B/R: I was talking to Wade Phillips once and he said, "I'd rather have a young guy who has the guts to throw an interception than a guy who is afraid to throw one." The thinking by a lot of coaches is that it's hard to coach the fear out of someone, but you can always teach a guy the right time and place to throw a pass. Is that what you were thinking last season?

Bortles: Yes, it's harder to be more aggressive, but you can always pull the reins back. I think there is a good and bad to it. You want to get in the mentality of being aggressive, but you don't want to throw the ball to the other team. It's going to happen. Brett Favre is one of the best ever and threw the most picks ever.

B/R: I'm not sure you want to go that far with it.

Bortles: No, not quite that far. At least I didn't break Peyton (Manning's) rookie record, which is good. But sometimes it's going to go like that. My first three games, I think I threw two picks in every game. My first time playing, I threw two in a half. I was going through my reads, and then I would just miss on a throw. I'd come to the sideline, and Gus would say, "Hey, just keep slinging."

B/R: Was there ever a time when you were out there and said, "Man, I wasn't expecting that"?

Bortles: It might have been the second half of the first game I played, maybe against Indy. ... There were definitely some times where I said, "They weren't doing that (in college)." Some guys are just freaks of nature.

Jason Cole covers the NFL for Bleacher Report.