Quote:Bortles has the "intangibles" and the ability to be a very good quarterback.  I won't say "great" just yet since his body of work has been behind a less-than-average line.  He does have the receivers, but the line is the key.  Add to that a competent running game (or lack thereof at this point).  The bottom line is that the offensive line needs an upgrade to provide the running backs the ability to gain crucial yards on first and second down.  When a defense starts blitzing or putting more men in the box to defend the run, it opens up the passing game.

 

Right now the stable of running backs is pretty good with TJ, Chris Ivory and Corey Grant.  With a good offensive line each one of them is a threat.  When teams actually have to really defend and/or account for them, it will open up the passing game.

 

In my opinion, free agency and the draft should address the offensive line with the goal of supplementing defensive positions.

We've already debunked those two major claims, though. The Jags had significantly fewer 3rd and longs than the average team, Blake just completed by far the lowest percentage of them.

 

And the best running games in the league are only facing stacked boxes ~30% of the time. For example, the Cowboys went from 30% 8 man boxes with McFadden in 2015 down to 27% with Elliott last year. Teams just don't stack the box in today's NFL. Nickel is king. Even if we add to our oline significantly and drafted a RB at 4 it still wouldn't change very much at all in terms of men in the box Blake faces. 

---