Blake Bortles contract: Jaguars have room to make a splash
The new contract given to Blake Bortles has freed up $9 million in cap space for the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2018, and they could make a splash…
The Jacksonville Jaguars have made no shortage of waves in free agency and the NFL Draft the past few years.
From the likes of Malik Jackson and Calais Campbell in free agency to Leonard Fournette and Jalen Ramsey in the draft, the Jaguars are seemingly making all the right moves.
But did they get the quarterback position right?
Blake Bortles was the team’s first round pick in the 2014 NFL Draft, and prior to the 2017 season, the Jaguars exercised their fifth-year team option on Bortles’ contract, which would have been essentially a guaranteed one year salary of over $19 million.
Bortles, as you may have heard, signed a new three-year contract with the Jaguars, worth $54 million in total money and $26.5 million in guaranteed cash.
The Jaguars spread out the guaranteed money in a unique way, giving Bortles a base salary of $5 million this year with a $5 million signing bonus, resulting in a $10 million cap hit.
Though Bortles has been guaranteed an additional (roughly) $8 million in cash from this new three-year deal (over the $19 million he was initially guaranteed on the fifth-year option), the Jaguars managed to get him to take a $9 million pay cut for the 2018 season.
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This was an essential move given the Jaguars’ desire to franchise tag Allen Robinson, their star wide receiver who is coming off of an ACL injury.
With Robinson returning at a likely one-year guaranteed deal, the Jags had to find ways to be able to fit everyone they want under the cap and this was a really smart way to do it.
The big questions now are whether or not Bortles can continue to elevate his game, and if the Jaguars do anything else in free agency.
They could certainly make a significant splash by going after a guy like Andrew Norwell to play left guard, or they could possibly try and swing a trade for Jarvis Landry of the Miami Dolphins.
Whatever the case, the Jaguars have positioned themselves well at least for this year with the $10 million cap hit for Bortles, and their roster assembly continues to be among the most impressive in football.