What about those of us who think Bortles can still continue to get better?

Are you willing to put all of your eggs into that single basket?

That basket got us to the AFC Championship game, and a 10 point lead into the 4th quarter.
That basket crushed the previous team record for TD passes in a season by 50%.

There aren't any baskets available out there that are guaranteed not to spill the eggs. We might as well try to improve the one we have.

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"Why should I give information to you when all you want to do is find something wrong with it?"

That assumes you pay Blake the 1 year option. But I think you could get Blake for less money on a multi-year deal (e.g. Blake $15M for 3 years vs. Cousins at $27M/year for 5 years). In that scenario you could get 2 other quality FAs (WR and OL) for the same money.

Why would Blake sign that deal?  He either gets $19 million guaranteed this year combined with either a mega multi year deal next year, the tag or a bite at free agency or he gets a bite at free agency this year.

Put yourself in his shoes.  Are you going to take your employer’s word for what your value is and accept their lowball offer or are you going to let the QB needy of the 31 other teams bid and set your value?

What options is he going to have? Is someone else going to give him $19M a year? I doubt it.  The Jags are in a position to get him on the cheap because he wants to play here.  Cousins wants a mega long term deal.  He's been playing on 1 year deals for 3 years.

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Why would Blake sign that deal?  He either gets $19 million guaranteed this year combined with either a mega multi year deal next year, the tag or a bite at free agency or he gets a bite at free agency this year.

Put yourself in his shoes.  Are you going to take your employer’s word for what your value is and accept their lowball offer or are you going to let the QB needy of the 31 other teams bid and set your value?

What options is he going to have? Is someone else going to give him $19M a year? I doubt it.  The Jags are in a position to get him on the cheap because he wants to play here.  Cousins wants a mega long term deal.  He's been playing on 1 year deals for 3 years.

He’s not taking a below market deal without testing free agency though.  Like I said, why would he?  If he tests free agency there’s no guarantee someone else doesn’t offer him a better deal.  If the plan is to roll with Bortles, the only way to ensure you have him is to keep him on the option or offer him a multi year deal that averages something close to $19 mil per year and guarantees significantly more. 

Could you cut him and he signs here for less anyway?  Sure, that might happen.  However, that’s awfully risky to potentially have your starting QB walk if the plan all along was to roll with him but we just wanted to get a deal.  Any potential upgrade that might be available would have already signed elsewhere by the time Bortles’ hypothetical free agency gets settled.  That’s too risky on a lot of fronts.  Just having him play on the option next year is a lot less risky from a business stand point.

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What options is he going to have? Is someone else going to give him $19M a year? I doubt it.  The Jags are in a position to get him on the cheap because he wants to play here.  Cousins wants a mega long term deal.  He's been playing on 1 year deals for 3 years.

The 3/45 you suggested is exactly the deal Mike Glennon signed last offseason. Do you really think, honestly, that Blake would sign that deal coming off an AFC championship appearance and with inflation/cap going up another year? I know it's a popular suggestion but there's just no way that happens.

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What options is he going to have? Is someone else going to give him $19M a year? I doubt it.  The Jags are in a position to get him on the cheap because he wants to play here.  Cousins wants a mega long term deal.  He's been playing on 1 year deals for 3 years.

The 3/45 you suggested is exactly the deal Mike Glennon signed last offseason. Do you really think, honestly, that Blake would sign that deal coming off an AFC championship appearance and with inflation/cap going up another year? I know it's a popular suggestion but there's just no way that happens.

The guaranteed money is all that matters and Glennon's deal had only $18.5 million guaranteed.  It is essentially a 1 year $18.5 million dollar deal with a team option for years 2 and 3 which I can't imagine they'll continue holding his contract with him being the back up now.

Bortles isn't just going to hand the team his rights for a couple of years without getting some additional guaranteed money in return though.  These hypothetical team friendly deals that keep getting tossed around aren't realistic unless Bortles is allowed to test free agency and finds that's all he can get.  And if he tests free agency there's no guarantee he signs here.  If he's the plan, just keep him on the option.

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What options is he going to have? Is someone else going to give him $19M a year? I doubt it.  The Jags are in a position to get him on the cheap because he wants to play here.  Cousins wants a mega long term deal.  He's been playing on 1 year deals for 3 years.

The 3/45 you suggested is exactly the deal Mike Glennon signed last offseason. Do you really think, honestly, that Blake would sign that deal coming off an AFC championship appearance and with inflation/cap going up another year? I know it's a popular suggestion but there's just no way that happens.

Well the Bears are stupid.  Why would you give a backup $15M a year?  You can't have it both ways. If he's not worth keeping as a starting QB as many on here think then he's not going to get $20M a year. If he's good enough to command $20M a year then why would you replace him.

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Rosen, Mayfield or Rudolph. It may take a year, but we'd see a drastic upgrade at QB by 2019 and they'd be on a rookie contract, so we could keep the current roster pretty well the same as it is. I believe any of these guys on this roster, would have the same kind of effect Wentz had in Philly.

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We don't need a "Special" QB. We need a QB who complements our dominant defense and can throw an accurate pass to a QB and prevents the opposition from putting 9 in the box.

Exactly! It's not like Marrone and Coughlin are going to change their "run first, clock managing" idealism with a new QB and be a high flying pass happy offense...We need the threat of a QB who can throw over the linebackers accurately enough to make them back out of the box...That way we can run to set up the pass or pass to set up the run...Bringing in a gunslinger high flying pass specialist QB only to remain a run first offense would make for an unhappy QB

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C'mon guys let's not spend the entire offseason with this stacked box fallacy. We consistently ran 21, 12, and 22 formations. When you put 9 in the box on offense the defense will respond in kind. It had nothing to do with teams being scared of LF or not scared of Blake. It was simply them responding to us first.

Go watch the games again and you'll see when we put 3 WRs on the field magically the defense played nickel and didn't stack the box. But actually it's not magic, it's just math.

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C'mon guys let's not spend the entire offseason with this stacked box fallacy. We consistently ran 21, 12, and 22 formations. When you put 9 in the box on offense the defense will respond in kind. It had nothing to do with teams being scared of LF or not scared of Blake. It was simply them responding to us first.

Go watch the games again and you'll see when we put 3 WRs on the field magically the defense played nickel and didn't stack the box. But actually it's not magic, it's just math.

actually the linebackers stayed quite close to the DL even in 3 wide sets...we very seldom tried to make them pay for stacking the box so they didn't have to change to stop the run or defend against the pass

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C'mon guys let's not spend the entire offseason with this stacked box fallacy. We consistently ran 21, 12, and 22 formations. When you put 9 in the box on offense the defense will respond in kind. It had nothing to do with teams being scared of LF or not scared of Blake. It was simply them responding to us first.

Go watch the games again and you'll see when we put 3 WRs on the field magically the defense played nickel and didn't stack the box. But actually it's not magic, it's just math.

actually the linebackers stayed quite close to the DL even in 3 wide sets...we very seldom tried to make them pay for stacking the box so they didn't have to change to stop the run or defend against the pass

If so that's because the opposing teams have no respect for the WRs, since such a defense depends on solid coverage by the CBs. Even an inaccurate QB can complete a pass to a wide open WR.

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"Why should I give information to you when all you want to do is find something wrong with it?"

The Lamar Jackson pick at 29 is warming up on me....

Sit behind Blake or Alex for a year?

I wouldn't mind him being here. But I hope he does sit behind Blake as a rookie though and he's enough to push Blake to elevate his game another year. My only concern with Lamar is his size and play style. How does that translate into the NFL?

Because anytime that kid takes off with the football or takes a huge shot by a defender we will all be collectively holding our breath in hopes he doesn't get destroyed for the year. 

For me right now I am thinking realistically about the QB position. I don't see us getting anyone off the market but I see them going QB early to motivate Blake and serve as a huge insurance policy if he falters again. So Jackson at 29 or Rudolph at 61 is fine by me.

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"What do I know of cultured ways, the gilt, the craft and the lie? I, who was born in a naked land and bred in the open sky. The subtle tongue, the sophist guile, they fail when the broadswords sing; Rush in and die, dogs - I was a man before I was a king."

Here's my take (for the entire 2 cents it's worth), Cousins stats aren't really much better than Blake's this year. Go take a look. The years he's put up big stats he also had big name WRs and gamelans that required him to throw it more. Blake hasn't been my favorite QB to watch ever, but man... When he needed to play well he made it happen. Guy looked great against both Pittsburgh and NE in the playoffs and when he was having an off game against Buffalo all he did was run for NINETY YARDS in his first ever playoff game. The jitters were obvious as he was missing wide open screen passes and dump offs but then he took over the game when needed with his legs. Then guess what happened next week? He goes on the road and plays nearly a perfect game agianst one of the most talented teams in the NFL.

Blake is a winner, he really is. I'm worrying myself thinking he mightve won me over in the post season. All QBs have bad games, some more than others, for cousins go look at his 3 int performance agianst the last place NYG in December.

As for Alex Smith or Eli , NO THANKS at all. Blake has better stats his first four seasons than either of those guys by a mile - again go look.

IMO like somebody else already said Brees is the only real true upgrade that would make a difference in the win loss column and allow our coaches to play different. If Cousins wouldn't ruin our cap space I'd be all for giving him a low risk shot but he's the definition of a high risk move imo.

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Brees is the only upgrade so yeah...

I'm all in for Brees, but otherwise I expect we'll ride Blake a couple more years until we can develop someone through the draft. 

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'02

C'mon guys let's not spend the entire offseason with this stacked box fallacy. We consistently ran 21, 12, and 22 formations. When you put 9 in the box on offense the defense will respond in kind. It had nothing to do with teams being scared of LF or not scared of Blake. It was simply them responding to us first.

Go watch the games again and you'll see when we put 3 WRs on the field magically the defense played nickel and didn't stack the box. But actually it's not magic, it's just math.

actually the linebackers stayed quite close to the DL even in 3 wide sets...we very seldom tried to make them pay for stacking the box so they didn't have to change to stop the run or defend against the pass

3 wide sets usually =s 2LBs + 5 DBs on the field.  So at most the box is usually a 7 men one if one of the safety comes down.  If two come down for an 8 man box well then you obviously don't run and take advantage of your single coverages.

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What the tea should do is re-sign Blake to a 3 year 50 million deal. The first year full guaranteed at 20 million. Then draft either Mason, Jackson or Faulk preferably Mason. This would fix the qb position.

I wouldn’t opposed to Cousins. If Coughlin, Caldwell and Marrone deem it the best move then I’m all for it. They shut me up last year with the Fournette pick. I would say Coughlin would know the most about Cousins. He had to game plan against the guy twice a year and is a pretty good qb evaluator.

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Blake is a winner?! Hahahaha

I love Blake but come on now. At one point, he had more pick 6s than wins. That’s not a winner.

This defense is a winner. They scored 8 defensive TDS this year. They held the opponent to 10 points or less like 9 times. Just about any QB can win when the defense plays that well. Defenses didn’t respect Blake all season. That’s obvious. They most likely wouldn’t respect him next year either.

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Honestly we could just go with a rookie. The only issue with that is ensuring one is there when we pick.

I’m really on board with Rudolph or Faulk at 29. Jackson would be a solid pick too he just doesn’t have the arm the others got.

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If Cousins really is that much better, his salary isn't worth his skillset. We could afford it sure, but at what cost? 2 years from now we'd be dismantling the defense for him. Better hope he can win it that fast.

Cousins said he wanted Stafford money aka 27 million. Blake is going to get 19 million. ~8 million isn't going to dismantle anything. Unless your argument is we need to cut Bortles because he will also mean we have to dismantle the defense, and then we sign another 5 million dollar QB like McCown or ride and die with a rookie QB. That's the only way the argument isn't contradictory.

I don't believe for a second Cousins is going to top out at $27. There's going to be an enormous bidding war for him. I'll be shocked if he's not every bit of $30mil +.

That's 11mil difference minimum. Even your 8 is a big number when you're at the point where every million in cap space is crucial.

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IT WAS ALWAYS THE JAGS

One thing everyone is missing is that the Jaguars now have appeal to free agents. They know that this team is a player or two away from winning it all. There will likely be someone who is willing to come here to get a ring, and may be willing to do a decent deal to do so.

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What lies behind us, and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.