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2018

What makes the Blake Bortles deal iffy, and why the Jaguars are all-in

The decision to extend Blake Bortles' contract doesn't stem from the quarterback's ability. It isn't a product of what he showed in the postseason during two impressive games against the Steelers and Patriots or, alternately, in a dismal effort at home against the Bills.

Jacksonville's decision to re-sign Bortles is a product of a questionable decision the Jaguars made last year -- it seemed questionable at the time and has grown worse with some perspective. It's also a reflection on where this team is going and whether the Jags can build upon an impressive 2017 season to take that final leap past the Patriots and into the Super Bowl.

Last May, the Jaguars decided to exercise Bortles' fifth-year option, which gave the team another year of cost control on their enigmatic quarterback through the 2018 season. The fifth-year option for players taken in the top 10 of the draft is rather expensive for quarterbacks, given that it represents the average salary of the top 10 players at the position. For Bortles, that fifth-year option was more than $19 million.
The salary is guaranteed only Trevor Linden Jersey for injury, so in most cases, teams http://www.authenticavalanchejerseys.com/Authentic-Erik-Johnson-Jersey that regret the move can just cut the player and move on without any penalty. Players who can't pass a physical by the beginning of the new league year (in March) remain on the cap and get paid, even if they can't play, as will likely be the case for Ryan Shazier in Pittsburgh. The Steelers naturally couldn't have anticipated in May that their star inside linebacker would suffer a career-threatening spinal injury six months later, but for Pittsburgh, the reward of having another year of cost control over Shazier was worth the risk that he would suffer a serious injury.
Likewise, the Jaguars were about to be stuck paying Bortles $19 million for an injury he had when Jacksonville signed him to the extension. The UCF product suffered a wrist injury during the final month of the 2016 season, which the Jaguars elected to treat with shots in the hopes of avoiding surgery. The Jags then picked up Bortles' option last May all while knowing he had a wrist injury that might require surgery after the 2017 campaign. The wrist Chad Kelly Womens Jersey got worse as the 2017 season went on, requiring Bortles to undergo surgery after the season ended in late January.
A move that seemed iffy at the time without public knowledge of the injury and looked downright foolish once the Jags briefly benched Bortles during the preseason for Chad Henne only looks worse now. Given the likelihood that Bortles would be unable to pass a physical and subsequently be guaranteed $19 million before hitting free agency next season, the Jaguars made the decision to tender him a three-year, $54 million deal with $26.5 million guaranteed at signing. The fifth-year option was a sunk cost, and the Jaguars didn't make a terrible move by handing Bortles this deal, but it raises questions about their thought process heading into 2018 and beyond.
There's a slim chance Bortles will actually end up playing out this extension for all three years, as teams almost never let a veteran quarterback play into the final year of his contract. This is more realistically a two-year deal for somewhere between $30 million and $36 million, plus incentives, with the ability to renegotiate after 2019 without having to resort to the franchise tag.
To gain that concession, the Jags had to drastically increase the chances Bortles remains the starting quarterback for Jacksonville in 2019. The structure of this deal -- namely, the $15 million signing bonus, which is spread over three seasons for cap purposes -- means the Jaguars would pay a steep cost to dump Bortles after one season. Cutting the soon-to-be 26-year-old would leave a minimum of $10 million in dead money on their cap next year.
That number could rise as high as $16.5 million if Bortles can't play; the Jags guaranteed $6.5 million of his $16 million base salary in 2019 with offsets, which another team would inherit as part of a new deal. If Brent Burns Jersey Jacksonville cut Bortles after 2018 and he signed a one-year, $3 million contract with, for instance, the Browns, the Jags would owe Bortles $3.5 million in cash and have $13 million in dead money on their cap for 2019.
It's surprising that the Jags would structure Bortles' deal in such a way. Under general manager Dave Caldwell, they have typically gone year-to-year with their contracts, guaranteeing money up front over the first two years of contracts with base Josh Bellamy Youth jersey salaries and roster bonuses while retaining flexibility afterward. That has come in handy when free agents such as Chris Ivory and Julius Thomas haven't worked out, but it's also how the Jags have operated in re-signing homegrown talent.
In the case of star linebacker Telvin Smith and the four-year, $45 million deal he signed in October, for example, the http://www.officialarizonacoyotes.com/Adidas-Brendan-Perlini-Jersey Jags guaranteed a $3 million base salary in 2018 and an $8 million roster bonus, all of which hits the cap next year. Smith's $4.1 million signing bonus costs only about $810,000 in cap room per year, so the Jags could theoretically get out of Smith's extension after next season and have http://www.hockeyrangersofficialauthenticshop.com/Glenn_Anderson_Jersey_Adidas only $2.4 million in dead money remaining on their cap.
The Jaguars didn't give veteran stars such as Calais Campbell ($6 million) and A.J. Bouye ($10 million) huge signing bonuses as part of far larger and longer contracts when importing http://www.49ersofficialsprostore.com/Datone_Jones_Jersey_Cheap them in free agency last year. Either they've suddenly changed the way they do business and are going to approach the salary cap differently, or Bortles' camp insisted they structure this extension in such a way as to make it more likely the former third-overall pick is around for another season.

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