Luke McCown: Should Jacksonville Jaguars Start Veteran QB over Blaine Gabbert?

There is no doubt that rookie Blaine Gabbert is the future of the quarterback position in Jacksonville. However, veteran Luke McCown is rightfully under center now that David Garrard has left town.

Calling McCown a veteran is a bit of a stretch considering he has only started seven games in seven seasons. However, there is no point in throwing Gabbert into the wolf pit of the NFL from the off after the release of David Garrard.

Releasing Garrard came at the worst possible time for the Jaguars this season.

Garrard was penciled in to be the starter and as such took plenty of reps away from Gabbert in both training camp and preseason games. That exposure was vital for Gabbert's early development because it would have allowed him to get on the field from Week 1 and allow the Jaguars to clearly tell their fanbase that this would be a year of transition looking to the future.

However, now that McCown is there the Jaguars have essentially delayed Gabbert's development and sacrificed any chance of winning the AFC South this season.

While some franchises have in the past brought in a rookie quarterback and developed him for up to three years (see Aaron Rodgers) and others have started him from the off (see Sam Bradford), the Jaguars now will be best advised to look toward the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to deal with their quarterback situation this year.

McCown must understand that he is just filling in until Gabbert can take over. Had Garrard been kept, then the Jaguars would have sat Gabbert for the whole of his rookie season. Had he been released before the preseason the team could have prepared Gabbert to be the starter this weekend.

Now they would be best advised to bring him in late in his rookie season.

This will give Gabbert the chance to learn from McCown from the sidelines by observing what he does right and wrong up close. Gabbert will be able to get a better understanding of NFL defenses without sustaining the punishment and problems that come with being a starting rookie quarterback in the NFL.

Protecting Gabbert early on is vital and the Jaguars are right to start McCown at this stage in order to do that. McCown will act as Byron Leftwich did in Tampa Bay two seasons ago.

The Buccaneers had drafted Josh Freeman that year but didn't feel comfortable starting him from Week 1. Instead they went with Leftwich before a brief stint with Josh Johnson under center until Freeman was ready to take over six games into the year.

Freeman hasn't looked back since and has adjusted perfectly to the NFL game. He struggled as a rookie as you would expect but his second season tally of 25 touchdowns to six interceptions proves that he better understands the game because of how his rookie season was tailored.

The Jaguars best approach to this season is to sacrifice it for the future. Their timing to release Garrard has cost Gabbert the opportunity to start from the outset of this season, but now their main focus should be to help the young quarterbacks development.

Despite Jack Del Rio's need to win this season, it's simply unrealistic to ask this team to compete in the AFC South—even with it being up for grabs—with such an unproven passing game.

The Jacksonville Jaguars signaled their intentions to build for the future by trading up for Gabbert this year. They obviously believe that he can be the future of their franchise and believing that means that they need to give him every chance to succeed in the future.

Keeping McCown under center for the moment is definitely the best way to do that.