JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Like most rookie quarterbacks, Blake Bortles struggled with inconsistency in his inaugural season. A lot of those struggles can be attributed to an offensive line that allowed a league high 55 sacks. Even through that adversity, Bortles managed to show glimpses of what the Jaguars hope is a bright future.
Now in year two, Bortles has a year of experience under his belt but he's been given the challenge of learning a new offense.
"It's hard to be successful and you want it now," said Bortles. "One of the things Gus [Bradley] is big on is getting better each and every day. There's times when it's frustrating because you want to be good now. That's not the goal. We want to be good in early September when the season starts."
Last season Bortles entered training camp knowing that he would be the back up to Chad Henne. This time around there's no question who will be under center come week one and Bortles has already adjusted to the higher expectations.
"It's allowed me to have a better grasp on things and a better understanding. I know how things work and I know what to expect."
The list of things to improve upon is endless for a quarterback that hasn't even started a full seasons worth of games. Gus Bradley says he's happy with the intermediate throws that Bortles has made so far this offseason but wants his quarterback to work on the deep ball.
"I think the one area that we have to challenge him more on is the long part of his game, said Bradley. "But we haven't done a lot of it in practice. How many times can you send a guy on a deep post to work on it? We're trying to find ways to do that. But we need to help get to that level and help him gain confidence in that part."
Following Thursday's minicamp session, players will be on their own until the start of training camp in late July. But Bortles plans to use the next six weeks to continue the momentum he's gained with his receivers during OTA's and minicamp.
"I know a couple of guys will be around and the rest will be in and out. Whenever guys are here we'll be throwing a couple times a week."