QB spot now for up for grabs in Jacksonville

Aug 20, 2017 - 12:39 AM JACKSONVILLE -- When the Jacksonville Jaguars opened training camp two weeks ago, they had several position battles that were up for grabs, the most notable being the starting spots at left tackle and left guard. They were resolved rather quickly, however. The left tackle job became settled when veteran Branden Albert abruptly announced his retirement three days into camp, all but handing the job to rookie Cam Robinson. The guard spot wagered on for a bit longer, but eventually Patrick Omameh took control and appears to have firmly established himself as the starter.

All is set then for the regular-season opener, right? Hardly. The one position where no one was anticipating a competition was at quarterback. That's where Blake Bortles appeared ready to start his fourth season as the team's leader and signal-caller. Put those plans on hold.

Following a second straight mediocre showing by Bortles in which he produced no points and just four first downs in four first-half series, Jaguars head coach Doug Marrone stated the obvious in his postgame press conference: the quarterback spot was now open. Bortles is now in a full-fledged battle with veteran backup Chad Henne for the starting spot.

"It's right up there for grabs and either person can take it," Marrone said. "It's very simple: Who is the best person to put in that position?"

No one would have thought it would have come down to this. Sure, Bortles had struggled some last year and fell short of matching his franchise record-setting numbers for passing yards (4,418) and touchdown passes (35) that he had established in 2015. But after spending a month working with his personal coaches in California during the offseason, Bortles pronounced himself fit and eager to get back to those numbers. The Jaguars' administration agreed by picking up the option year on Bortles contract, one that would guarantee him slightly over $19 million in 2018 if he were injured during the 2017 season and couldn't play next year.

But for now, Marrone has declared it an open competition between Bortles and Henne. Both players took reps with the No. 1 offensive unit in Saturday's practice. But Marrone isn't tipping his hand as to which way he'll go or might be leaning with the two quarterbacks.

"I'm going to watch during the week and not put myself into a situation where you kind of get backed up, and at the end of the day, you have to change it," the Jaguars' coach said. "That's the worst thing you can do, so you just go out there and say, 'Hey, this is what we're going to do during the week, and we're going to see how this thing goes.'"

One thing that isn't likely to happen at this stage of training camp is to bring in an outsider to challenge either Bortles or Henne for the starting spot. With only three practice days left ahead of Thursday's third preseason game - the one in which starters generally play into the third quarter - it wouldn't be likely that someone could come in and learn the offense quick enough to be ready to play in the next game against Carolina. The Jaguars' fourth and final preseason game is at Atlanta, but few if any of the starters will play in that contest. It's hard to fathom that the Jaguars would want to start the regular season with a quarterback that had not played a single game with the rest of the starting offensive unit.

That leaves the battle between Bortles and Henne. Third-string quarterback Brandon Allen has shown some potential but he's not on the same level as either of the two ahead of him. It's likely that Bortles and Henne will split first-team reps this week and that both could play a quarter in the first half of the Carolina game, with whoever looks better taking the majority of snaps in the third quarter as well.

Marrone says he doesn't feel that the uncertainty at the quarterback position will have an effect on the rest of the starting offensive unit.

"I don't worry because I think we've got other things going on around the team, too, like the same situation," he said. "I really don't think that has to be explained. I think everyone understands the situation."

But the Jaguars' coach knows that a decision has to be made sooner rather than later.

"You have to be able to make a decision and you don't want to get yourself to a point where you make too quick of a decision," he said. "At the end of the day, you just have to evaluate it and make a decision on what's best for the team moving forward. I think it's very simple. I'm looking to see who can lead from that position."

The quarterback position isn't the only item that's causing Marrone some sleepless nights this week. He's concerned about the team's kicking situation, more specifically, is Jason Myers the kicker that the team wants to put its trust in when a game-deciding kick is on the line? Myers has made just one of four field-goal tries thus far in the preseason and Thursday against Tampa Bay he missed on his only extra-point attempt.

As a result, the Jaguars brought in kickers Dan Carpenter and Patrick Murray for tryouts with the team on Saturday.

"Obviously, we had two kickers in today, so I'm hoping that Jason -- I told him, I can only tell you what I told him," Marrone said. "I said, 'Listen, we had two kickers in here today, so obviously we're looking, but you've done some really good things technically and stuff and now you need to get it done on the field.' So, I think he's well aware of the situation and he has to go out there and perform well, earn the trust of the coaches, as well as his teammates."

The Jaguars could sign either Carpenter or Murray prior to Thursday's game and then stage a two-kicker battle between that kicker and Myers in the two remaining preseason games before making their decision as to who to keep on the 53-man roster.