Bortles had 'dead arm' late last year

Jaguars say Bortles wore down during rookie season

JACKSONVILLE – There's no question that the 2015 Jacksonville Jaguars are going to go as far as quarterback Blake Bortles takes them. As a rookie Bortles struggled, like most NFL rookie quarterbacks tend to do.

Perhaps now we have a little more insight into why the former UCF signal caller faded toward the end of last season. According to a report by the USA Today, Bortles was worn down and had a "dead arm."

"People don't realize that as you look later in the season, he was on the injury report," said Jaguars General Manager Dave Caldwell to the USA Today. "You've just got to do what you've got to do to survive. It wasn't anything that was ingrained in him [mechanically]. He knew he was doing it. But in order to drive the ball 15 yards, there were some things that he needed to do to get the velocity on the ball."

During the first three months of the season Bortles averaged 6.87 yards per completion. In December that number dropped to 4.79 yards which would explain exactly what Caldwell was referring to. During the Jaguars final minicamp head coach Gus Bradley said that throwing the ball down field is something that he would like to see them do more of going forward. With Alan Robinson, Allen Hurns, and Marqise Lee on the outside, you can expect Bortles to look for the big play more often this coming season.