Jacksonville Jaguars Place QB Blaine Gabbert on IR

After suffering from two separate injuries—issues with his right forearm and left shoulder—the Jacksonville Jaguars officially placed second-year quarterback Blaine Gabbert on injured reserve for the remainder of the season, according to the Jaguars official Twitter account:

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#Jaguars place Blaine Gabbert (rt forearm/left shoulder) and Laurent Robinson (concussion) on injured reserve.

— Jacksonville Jaguars (@jaguars) November 21, 2012"

UPDATE: Wednesday, November 21, 1:00 p.m. ET by Donald Wood 

After being officially placed on the Jacksonville Jaguars Injured Reserve list, star quarterback Blaine Gabbert will now undergo surgery on injured shoulder while remaining hopeful he can avoid another procedure on his forearm, according to John Oehser of Jaguars.com:

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Gabbert will undergo surgery on his left shoulder next week (Monday). He said today he's hoping to avoid surgery on the forearm #jaguars

— John Oehser (@JohnOehser) November 21, 2012"

With no question now about the severity of the injuries the young QB has been playing through, Jacksonville fans should understand why Gabbert’s performance this year has been subpar.

Whether he is back next season is a different story.

---End of Update---

Gabbert was forced to leave Sunday’s loss to the Houston Texans with a forearm injury after just two passes, but backup Chad Henne stepped in and performed better than expected—almost leading the team to a victory.

While there is no doubt that the team will miss Gabbert under center, the young QB hadn’t done much to convince the coaches that a benching wasn’t appropriate.

With just nine touchdowns, six interceptions and a completion percentage of 58.3 in 2012, Gabbert was heading for the backup role anyway.

What It Means

With Gabbert suffering from two separate injuries that have plagued him all season, those factors must be taken into consideration while evaluating the QB this offseason. With that said, there is no certainty that Jacksonville will retain the young star after a mediocre season like he had in 2012.

Henne will step in and lead the Jaguars for the rest of this year's campaign, but as a franchise, Jacksonville must decide if it will try once again to turn Gabbert into a star or if it will go in a different direction.

Let’s not forget, there is a chance that Tim Tebow could once again find his way into rumors involving the Jaguars…

What’s Next?

In the short term, this is now Chad Henne’s team. After throwing for 354 yards and four touchdowns against the Houston Texans in Week 11—he also had an ugly 48.5 completion percentage—there was no doubt that Henne would start once again.

Gabbert’s placement on the IR just made the transition to Henne that much easier.

As bad as the Jaguars have been, if they can rally around each other and support their new starting QB, the remaining schedule is set up for a solid finish to the season.

The Jaguars will finish the season 5-11.

Check back for more on the National Football League as it comes, and don’t miss Bleacher Report’s NFL page to get your fill of all things football.

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