Jaguars make splash, take QB Blake Bortles with third overall pick

Blake Bortles poses with his jersey after being selected as the number three overall pick in the first round of the 2014 NFL draft.

The competitive nature of Blake Bortles won over the Jacksonville Jaguars as much as anything about the quarterback from UCF.
But the likelihood that he won't be able to display that in game situations as a rookie made the Jaguars' decision to do what they did Thursday night with the third overall pick in the NFL draft such a surprise.
Instead of taking outside linebacker Khalil Mack from Buffalo, wide receiver Sammy Watkins from Clemson or even 2012 Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel from Texas A&M, the Jaguars chose the 6-foot-5, 230-pound Bortles.
"I had no clue," he said. "I would have been surprised if I went 1 or if I went 100. But I'm so happy it's Jacksonville."
"We feel good about it. We feel great about it, actually," Jaguars general manager Dave Caldwell said, adding he was swayed by Bortles' performance at the NFL combine in late February as much as anything he did in his junior season with the Knights.
"We feel good about it. We feel great about it, actually," Jaguars general manager Dave Caldwell said, adding he was swayed by Bortles' performance at the NFL combine in late February as much as anything he did in his junior season with the Knights.

 

Bortles didn't start for UCF as a freshman but later guided the Knights to two bowl victories, the last of which was an upset of Baylor in the Fiesta Bowl where he passed for 301 yards and ran for 93 more. The decision by the Jaguars to take him so early doesn't mean he'll be expected to start right away for a team which lost its first eight games a year ago and finished with a 4-12 record.
"Obviously they have Chad Henne. And obviously I have things I need to work on," Bortles said. "I've never looked at an NFL playbook. There are going to be challenges that I'm going to have to overcome, but I can't wait to get there and work to be the best I can be and start competing."
"We just can't throw him out there. You've seen what happens when that happens," Caldwell said. "We're going to work to make this work. And I know he's going to work to make it work