I was one of the many who were concerned about Bortles fast rise.  Much like other's I thought "You know... why is he just now suddenly rising to the top?  This is reminding me of Blaine Gabbert.".  

 

But then -- I thought about it more.  

 

Blaine Gabbert was coming out the same year as Andrew Luck.  Only Luck decided not to declare.  Which left the top candidates as a guy who stole a laptop... and really nobody else.  There was nobody to really hype up that year, which is why Blaine got the hype. Gabbert fit the pro-typical Quarterback size.

 

Blake Bortles on the other hand came out in the same year as Johnny Manziel.  A guy dubbed "Johnny Football".  The media quickly jumped on Manziel.  Jon Gruden had his tongue firmly attached to Manziel's boot.  You also had Teddy Bridgewater, who while he had a bad pro-day, could have easily been hyped up (and had been hyped up for most of the season).  There was no need for them to artificially inflate the value of a Quarterback at the end of the season.  They had their story in Johnny not-six-foot-tall and Teddy Bridgewater.  They could have even inflated the stock of A.J. McCarron or Derek Carr, or even Jimmy Garropollo.  There were plenty of choices. But they didn't need to because Johnny Manziel declared.  And that was enough to create plenty of hype.

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