The Jaguars are going with Blake Bortles at quarterback. It’s early, but I like his ability to get the ball downfield.
With most young quarterbacks, they’re kind of playing scared. They’re just looking to get the ball out of their hands and settle for short completions. They’ll gladly complete a 5-yard pass on third-and-13 and tort off the field.
With Bortles, he’s gunning it downfield. He’s not afraid of making mistakes. So he’s making a lot more big plays than the typical young quarterback.
I noticed this in the preseason. He averaged 16.3 yards per completion – best of every quarterback in the league.
And now that he’s playing in the real games, it’s starting to resurface again. He’s played only a half of football, but he’s averaging 15.9 yards per completion. Of the 37 other quarterbacks who’ve attempted at least 20 passes, none of them have averaged more than 13.2 yards per completion. The rookie quarterback who’s played the most, Derek Carr, is one of those just-hope-I-survive guys; he’s down at 8.6 yards per completion.
Strategically, this might not be a good idea. In trying the harder throws, Bortles probably won’t have a great completion percentage. He’ll get sacked more often, and he’ll throw more interceptions. Sometimes it’s smarter to just get the ball out of your hands.
But I like it. This stat – the idea of tracking yards per completion – was one I first started paying attention to about 10 years back with Ben Roethlisberger. He graded out really high in that area. And more so than any other quarterback, he’s the guy that Bortles tends to get compared to.
YARDS PER COMPLETION -- REGULAR SEASON | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Rk | Player | Com | Yards | YPC |
1 | Blake Bortles | 14 | 223 | 15.93 |
2 | Ryan Fitzpatrick | 48 | 634 | 13.21 |
3 | Andy Dalton | 55 | 722 | 13.13 |
4 | Nick Foles | 75 | 978 | 13.04 |
5 | Kirk Cousins | 52 | 677 | 13.02 |
6 | Drew Stanton | 32 | 411 | 12.84 |
7 | Matt Ryan | 76 | 965 | 12.70 |
8 | Carson Palmer | 24 | 304 | 12.67 |
9 | Teddy Bridgewater | 12 | 150 | 12.50 |
10 | Matthew Stafford | 71 | 883 | 12.44 |
11 | Jake Locker | 57 | 685 | 12.02 |
12 | Brian Hoyer | 61 | 716 | 11.74 |
13 | Chad Henne | 42 | 492 | 11.71 |
14 | Ben Roethlisberger | 67 | 778 | 11.61 |
15 | Philip Rivers | 67 | 778 | 11.61 |
16 | Cam Newton | 46 | 531 | 11.54 |
17 | Tony Romo | 60 | 674 | 11.23 |
18 | EJ Manuel | 55 | 613 | 11.15 |
19 | Austin Davis | 68 | 754 | 11.09 |
20 | Peyton Manning | 74 | 814 | 11.00 |
21 | Geno Smith | 65 | 713 | 10.97 |
22 | Aaron Rodgers | 64 | 697 | 10.89 |
23 | Russell Wilson | 60 | 651 | 10.85 |
24 | Jay Cutler | 70 | 750 | 10.71 |
25 | Derek Anderson | 29 | 310 | 10.69 |
26 | Andrew Luck | 86 | 912 | 10.60 |
27 | Colin Kaepernick | 66 | 694 | 10.52 |
28 | Drew Brees | 83 | 863 | 10.40 |
29 | Eli Manning | 65 | 674 | 10.37 |
30 | Matt Cassel | 41 | 425 | 10.37 |
31 | Alex Smith | 64 | 643 | 10.05 |
32 | Robert Griffin III | 31 | 305 | 9.84 |
33 | Josh McCown | 43 | 420 | 9.77 |
34 | Joe Flacco | 75 | 728 | 9.71 |
35 | Tom Brady | 67 | 632 | 9.43 |
36 | Ryan Tannehill | 70 | 624 | 8.91 |
37 | Derek Carr | 68 | 588 | 8.65 |
38 | Mike Glennon | 17 | 121 | 7.12 |
YARDS PER COMPLETION -- PRESEASON | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Rk | Player | Com | Yards | YPC |
1 | Blake Bortles | 32 | 521 | 16.28 |
2 | T.J. Yates | 28 | 438 | 15.64 |
3 | Colt McCoy | 32 | 496 | 15.50 |
4 | Brock Osweiler | 29 | 423 | 14.59 |
5 | Zach Mettenberger | 47 | 659 | 14.02 |
6 | Austin Davis | 39 | 534 | 13.69 |
7 | Jimmy Garoppolo | 46 | 618 | 13.43 |
8 | Ryan Nassib | 44 | 588 | 13.36 |
9 | Kellen Clemens | 33 | 441 | 13.36 |
10 | Joe Webb | 29 | 387 | 13.34 |
11 | Russell Wilson | 33 | 437 | 13.24 |
12 | Scott Tolzien | 38 | 477 | 12.55 |
13 | Matt McGloin | 38 | 471 | 12.39 |
14 | Matt Moore | 30 | 368 | 12.27 |
15 | Matt Barkley | 41 | 495 | 12.07 |
16 | Joe Flacco | 29 | 345 | 11.90 |
17 | Brandon Weeden | 34 | 388 | 11.41 |
18 | Jay Cutler | 28 | 317 | 11.32 |
19 | Mike Glennon | 24 | 271 | 11.29 |
20 | Matt Simms | 29 | 323 | 11.14 |
21 | Ryan Griffin | 48 | 530 | 11.04 |
22 | Brian Hoyer | 24 | 261 | 10.88 |
23 | Derek Carr | 30 | 326 | 10.87 |
24 | Kirk Cousins | 35 | 370 | 10.57 |
25 | Seth Lobato | 26 | 271 | 10.42 |
26 | Ryan Tannehill | 28 | 291 | 10.39 |
27 | EJ Manuel | 50 | 516 | 10.32 |
28 | Kellen Moore | 35 | 361 | 10.31 |
29 | Sean Renfree | 27 | 278 | 10.30 |
30 | Johnny Manziel | 30 | 296 | 9.87 |
31 | Dan Orlovsky | 36 | 355 | 9.86 |
32 | Tyrod Taylor | 35 | 345 | 9.86 |
33 | Peyton Manning | 43 | 423 | 9.84 |
34 | Jason Campbell | 26 | 253 | 9.73 |
35 | Dustin Vaughan | 22 | 212 | 9.64 |
36 | Teddy Bridgewater | 30 | 283 | 9.43 |
37 | Andrew Luck | 26 | 245 | 9.42 |
38 | Logan Thomas | 22 | 207 | 9.41 |
39 | Eli Manning | 20 | 188 | 9.40 |
40 | Ryan Fitzpatrick | 25 | 232 | 9.28 |
41 | Luke McCown | 26 | 240 | 9.23 |
42 | Alex Smith | 31 | 286 | 9.23 |
43 | Nick Foles | 33 | 304 | 9.21 |
44 | Matt Schaub | 24 | 218 | 9.08 |
45 | Chandler Harnish | 32 | 283 | 8.84 |
46 | Blaine Gabbert | 22 | 186 | 8.45 |
47 | Landry Jones | 27 | 224 | 8.30 |
48 | Jeff Tuel | 29 | 236 | 8.14 |
—Ian Allan