Jaguars in tough spot replacing Blake Bortles

The Jacksonville Jaguars have to move on from Blake Bortles. The real question is who they are moving on from him to get to.

Jacksonville was a win away from the Super Bowl a year ago. The team was on the up, only to fall completely on its proverbial face this season. The Jaguars finished 5-11 and have a top-10 pick in the upcoming draft. However, with the incoming class of quarterbacks so weak, they face a dilemma.

Do they risk using that important selection on a project such as Dwayne Haskins or Drew Lock? Or, do they sign a veteran such as Nick Foles or Teddy Bridgewater and hope for the best?

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As things stand going into the final day of January, the Jaguars are projected to be over the salary cap by $1.5 million. Cutting Blake Bortles gets Jacksonville to $2.8 million of space (along with giving it $16.5 million in dead money). If general manager Dave Caldwell sheds the contracts of Malik Jackson and Carlos Hyde, that is another $15.4 million to play with, giving him enough to both pay his draft class and add a quarterback in free agency if he chooses.

The problem that faces the Jaguars and any other team that needs a quarterback, though, is glaring. The aforementioned crop of rookies isn’t strong at that position, and the free agents don’t include the kind of unicorn we saw in Kirk Cousins last year.

Foles might be the best option of the bunch, and yet he’s 30 years old and never been a proven player over the long term. He would also be going from a team with a championship roster to one that lacks any sort of talent on the outside save for Marqise Lee … if he’s healthy after sustaining a torn ACL.

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If Foles proves either too expensive or simply unattainable, Caldwell could turn his attention to Bridgewater. Despite being all but inactive for the last three seasons, the former first-round pick is just 26 years old and could likely be had for cheap. There’s a risk that Bridgewater simply can’t recover from the horrific knee injury he sustained before the 2016 season, but there’s also the upside that he could blossom into a franchise guy.

Because Blake Bortles was so bad this season — when you’re benched for Cody Kessler, you’ve truly accomplished something — the Jaguars have to move on. Whether they can find someone to help guide them back into playoff contention remains another, and the biggest, of questions.