Blake Bortles' 5th-Year Contract Option Picked Up by Jaguars

Despite seeing Blake Bortles take a major step back in 2016, the Jacksonville Jaguars exercised their fifth-year contract option on their inconsistent quarterback Monday.

Bortles, 25, will make the average of the NFL's 10 highest-paid quarterbacks in 2018 under terms of the option. The contract is only guaranteed for injury, however, so it's still possible the Jaguars move on after the 2017 season.

“This is a smart business decision for the team for several reasons,” Jaguars executive vice president of football operations Tom Coughlin said in a statement. “It makes sense for us going forward and it’s good for Blake and for the Jaguars.”

Bortles threw for 3,905 yards and 23 touchdowns against 16 interceptions in 2016. It was 12 fewer touchdowns than he threw during a promising 2015 campaign, and he regressed in nearly every major passing category. 

Football Outsiders' DVOA metric ranked Bortles as the NFL's 24th-best passer with at least 200 attempts. Pro Football Focus' grading metrics ranked him 28th. New Jaguars coach Doug Marrone told Ryan O’Halloran of the Florida Times-Union that the team has to start from scratch rebuilding Bortles' mechanics.

“We have to go back and build [Bortles’] foundation from the beginning. We told him [in January] we wanted him to make sure his arm was ready to go because there will be an increase in reps, which will help him.

"I’ve been with Drew [Brees] in New Orleans and obviously he’s a Hall of Fame-type quarterback and that’s the way we approached it with him and with the team. You start with the foundation and you look to see how fast they can work through the foundation.”

That's obviously not a promising sign for a player heading into his fourth season, but Bortles remains a physically gifted passer who needs to start making better decisions. It's not even as if he is especially aggressive with the football. His 6.25 yards per attempt ranked third-worst among qualifying passers last season.

If his performance level does not make a major uptick in 2017, odds are the Jags will cut Bortles and avoid paying him the $20-plus million that will come his way with that fifth-year option.