At the end of the 2017 NFL preseason, the Jacksonville Jaguars have one giant eyesore on offense and it’s at quarterback. Chad Henne and Blake Bortles had one of most unimpressive quarterback battles this summer. In the last game both quarterbacks played, Henne was sacked three times and Bortles threw an interception that was almost returned for a touchdown. The Jaguars are in the same boat as the New York Jets as teams with no really great option at quarterback. The Jaguars were also rumored to sign Colin Kaepernick at some point this preseason. Of course, however, he remains unsigned in the transition to regular season football.
“We really need to go ahead and sign Kaep because Blake Bortles is just not doing what we need him to do. Unfortunately, this is his last year of his rookie contract, so we’re kind of stuck with him because he’s cheap,” 22-year Jaguars fan Allen Watts IV said.
Watts later admitted that while Kaepernick isn’t the best option at quarterback in the wide-view of the franchise, he’s definitely the best option available right now in the league. Watts also pointed out that some Jaguars players have sat down or thrown their fists up during the anthem before. The longtime Jaguars fan is a Jacksonville native that moved to Atlanta in 2014. He was at the game with a Falcons fan wearing a white Michael Vick jersey.
“Kaepernick is the best quarterback not signed to a team right now,” Watts said. “It’s 10 quarterbacks in the league that he’s better than starting right now, and one of them is my quarterback.”
Every other Jacksonville fan agreed that Kaepernick deserves to be in the league, just not with the Jaguars.
“It’d be too much money and he would know he’d only get a one-year contract,” lifelong Jaguars fan Christian Meyers said.
Even if Kaepernick was better than Henne and Bortles last season.
“Sure, last year in a very limited size,” Jaguars fan Matthew Morrow said of Kaepernick’s 2016 statistics. “Valid point. Bortles had 35 touchdowns two years ago. I still think he’s not good. So I agree, last year he had a good year, but if you look at the rest of his career, it was kind of on the rope.”
Tal Kitron and Joanna Reid have followed the Jaguars for the better part of the last five seasons after a college classmate became one of the team owners. Both of them are wearing Blake Bortles’ jerseys to Jacksonville’s last preseason game on Aug. 31 against the Atlanta Falcons.
“I think it’s a good situation,” Kitron said of the battle between Henne and Bortles. “I think it’s finally coming together.”
“The Jacksonville ownership is doing a great job handling it and we really feel good about how this season is going to go this year,” Reid added.
Kitron then echoed Morrow’s thoughts.
“I feel like Kaepernick definitely deserves a job somewhere,” he said. “I think people don’t want the media surrounding it, no that’s not really an excuse to me, I mean you have to [hold on to] what you got. Blake is proved. At least two years ago, he definitely proved that [he] can make it in this league, so it makes sense to stick with the guy and have consistency. But I mean Kaepernick should be playing somewhere, right?”
