(12-24-2018, 12:49 PM)MalabarJag Wrote: No.

Bortles has been a disappointment, but Caldwell said when he was drafted that he was the best QB available of the 2014 and 2015 crop. That's arguably true, and Caldwell was essentially forced to take a QB in 2014. Carr has faded badly. Mariota and Bridgewater are injury prone (maybe Garoppolo too, who had a bad start this year before his injury) and are not elite QBs even when healthy. Winston is as inconsistent as Bortles and has off-field issues. Manziel ...

While Bortles played poorly this year (and in 2016) he still has the team record for TD passes in a season by a huge margin, and had a good December and playoff run last year. This year he's been limited by the OL, the receivers (what happened to Cole?) and lack of a running game. I give Caldwell a pass on Bortles, especially after the rest of the 2014 draft, where he also got three Pro Bowl level players along with Lee and Colvin. The choice to re-sign Bortles after last year was as much Coughlin as Caldwell.

Good analysis.

As an aside, you asked about what happened to Cole.  I was high on him after last year, but his play fell off this year and I was very disappointed.  But after thinking about it, I have a theory.

This will cause some eye rolls, but I submit injuries to the offensive line hurt Cole and Chark as much as anyone.

If you noticed last year, Cole made his biggest plays last year on deep passes.  He wasn't so much a chain mover as he was a field stretcher.  If you noticed Chark's last year at LSU, he was primarily a deep threat.  He was drafted to get that 8th guy out of the box and help open things up for Fournette.

I believe the injuries to the offensive line forced the Jaguars to run shorter routes, including Chark and Cole.

While receivers should be well rounded, I think all players have their strengths and weaknesses, especially young players like Cole and Chark.  These two guys' strengths lie in running deep routes, while they struggle with the underneath stuff.  If you notice, most of Cole's drops and fumbles have come on shorter, more underneath routes.  Same with Chark.

Perhaps part of their development is learning to function in those underneath routes.  Maybe they need to be better route runners, and develop a better feel for underneath zones.  It's possible they need to better learn to catch in traffic and protect themselves and the ball from big hits.

Anyway, back to the topic at hand-Caldwell should be retained.

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(12-24-2018, 12:56 PM)Dimson Wrote:

(12-24-2018, 12:49 PM)MalabarJag Wrote: No.

Bortles has been a disappointment, but Caldwell said when he was drafted that he was the best QB available of the 2014 and 2015 crop. That's arguably true, and Caldwell was essentially forced to take a QB in 2014. Carr has faded badly. Mariota and Bridgewater are injury prone (maybe Garoppolo too, who had a bad start this year before his injury) and are not elite QBs even when healthy. Winston is as inconsistent as Bortles and has off-field issues. Manziel ...

While Bortles played poorly this year (and in 2016) he still has the team record for TD passes in a season by a huge margin, and had a good December and playoff run last year. This year he's been limited by the OL, the receivers (what happened to Cole?) and lack of a running game. I give Caldwell a pass on Bortles, especially after the rest of the 2014 draft, where he also got three Pro Bowl level players along with Lee and Colvin. The choice to re-sign Bortles after last year was as much Coughlin as Caldwell.

It is crazy knowing he got the Blake pick right and he is the best QB out of those draft classes. Yes, he wasn't the long term answer but you can't be mad at Caldwell for picking the best out of a not so good group.

Just imagine had he not drafted a QB in 2013-2016.

What would this board look like?

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