Quote:I must admit, at first I was not only shocked, but disagreed with last night's pick.  Full disclosure... I'm not a "draft junkie" and I don't really watch college football all that much.  I leisurely follow the sports page and watch Sportscenter every now and then to get my sports news.  So last night's pick was a surprise to me.  I had figured that Bortles would drop way down, and that we would target some of our other needs with the #3 pick, or quite possibly trade down to gain more picks.

 

That being said, after looking at the coverage from many different sources (CBS Sports, NFL Network, ESPN, FOX Sports and Jaguars.com) I have changed my opinion.  I believe that something special could be happening with this franchise right before our very eyes.

 

Looking at highlight reels of the available quarterbacks, this "Johnny Football" guy looks to me like he is Tim Tebow II.  Sure he is athletic and very talented, but how he played the college game doesn't really stack up to much in the pro game.  Best case scenario for him is he ends up being an RGIII or a Cam Newton.  I don't even think that it's that good, and I think that all of the media coverage has probably gone to his head.

 

The Bortles highlights, though not particularly impressive, reminded me more of a good NFL quarterback.  Some people compare him to Ben Roethlisberger, and that might be kind of accurate, but I also see a bit of Steve McNair, Tom Brady and a splash of Mark Brunell in his younger days.  He's big, mobile, has good pocket presence and has a pretty good arm.  Is he perfect?  Not at all by any means, but he is a player that can be developed.

 

Watching the interviews and press conferences, his demeanor reminds me a lot of Brunell.  Very humble, and knows what his roll is going to be.  He doesn't have the "dumb jock" persona, he has the young "I want to learn and succeed" type of attitude.

 

I don't know what it is about him, but I just think that he is going to one day be the next "NFL star" quarterback.  Will he make it to the level of Brunell, Manning, Brady, Montana, Marino or Elway?  Only time will tell, but I just have a gut feeling that feels pretty good.