Peter King: QB Blake Bortles and email

[Prime Time]

Jennifer Stewart/Getty Images

Blake Bortles: Made for Minnesota?
The Vikings would be a perfect fit for the quarterback who needs at least one redshirt year in the NFL before getting his shot. But Houston and Cleveland could complicate matters. Checking in with Blake Bortles, plus answering email
By Peter King

I watch Blake Bortles on video, his accuracy and escapability and his occasionally questionable decision-making, and I can’t help but think of him as a Viking. This is the kind of quarterback Minnesota offensive coordinator Norv Turner loves: an inch taller and 10 pounds heavier than Troy Aikman, a lover of the pocket in an era of escape artists, a 66-percent lifetime passer in three years at Central Florida. I doubt he makes it to No. 8, but that’s the best fit for me for Bortles in the top 10.

First, you can’t take a quarterback who matches an offensive coordinator in today’s day and age … because you have no idea how long any of them will be working where they are. Who’d have thought Turner would get whacked with the Cleveland coaching staff after just one season? So whoever likes Bortles, who doesn’t have the pedigree of a Johnny Manziel or even a Derek Carr, is going to have to like the player long-term and know that whoever coaches him in 2014 might not be the coach in 2016.

Other than Minnesota, the most likely teams to want him in the draft are Houston and Cleveland. The Browns have been smitten with him since last fall, and you could say the same thing for rookie Texans coach Bill O’Brien. Bortles’ Central Florida team went to Penn State last season and beat O’Brien’s Nittany Lions, and Bortles complete 20 of 27 throws in an efficient if not memorable performance. Pretty heady stuff for a guy who had to fight for the starting job in high school, and had to fight again at Central Florida.

I remember one scout telling me last fall, “If you can be patient with Bortles, and he decides to come out, he’s going to give you a good return on your investment. He hasn’t played as much football, as much high-level football, as most of the other guys he’d be competing with. But two or three years down the road, he’s going to pay off.”

Matt Cassel gives the Vikes a reliable veteran while they groom a QB for the future. (Hannah Folsein/Getty Images)

Again, Minnesota. Let Matt Cassel play a season (unless beaten out by Christian Ponder this fall) and then open up the competition in camp next year. The starters in Cleveland and Houston: shakier. Much shakier.

As with most players with just over a week left before the draft, Bortles told me he had no idea where he’s going. His future is a mystery, as is he.

“It is all very surreal,” he said over the weekend, all of his visits to NFL teams finished. “Most people don’t even know who I am. If you said to anyone, even my friends, before the season that I’d be coming into the draft early, they’d all be shocked.”

His visits, he said, have been fun, because he’s been getting to know NFL decision-makers and coaches, as well as them getting to know him. “They just want to find out if I’m worth it,” Bortles said. “They want to know, ‘Is he going to screw it up?’ They want to know what kind of person I am too.”

And player. “I think the fact that I was able to play through some adversity—didn’t start in high school right away, got beat out and then had to fight to win the starting job at Central Florida—and show some dedication to the job, that should speak for itself. I’ve played in the shotgun, I’ve played under center, I’ve been in the pocket, I’ve moved around. We went 12-1, won a BCS bowl game this year, and that’s a huge accomplishment for Central Florida. My goal always was to play in the NFL, and I went into the draft to be the number one pick. Why not?” he said.

“I understand I have things to fix. Everybody has flaws. I never had a [concentrated] quarterback coach growing up, never did the kind of quarterback training lots of guys do till two months ago. I have to fix things. But everybody has flaws. I do too.

“The best piece of advice I got came in a couple of places. What teams harped on with me is to get in the playbook immediately … the guys who are successful are the ones who can pick you apart and know everything mentally.”

The Vikings would likely want their quarterback to have a redshirt year, as GM Rick Spielman has said. But Houston and Cleveland may want to see the quarterback they pick play earlier. Wherever he goes, this season doesn’t line up great for a quarterback who needs experience and a learning year. The draft is two weeks later than normal, and with the opening weekend exactly four months after the draft, it’d be tough to think of Bortles playing earlier in his rookie season. That’s just one more reason why it’s short-sighted for the league to have the draft as late as it is right now. For players who need to play early, the late draft is an impediment to getting players ready in time to play a top-quality game around Labor Day.

“I’m anxious to get back to playing football,’’ Bortles said. Teams are anxious to get the long-awaited draft (that’s putting it mildly) going, so they can begin full-squad preparation for the season.

And now for your email:

* * *

Roger Goodell’s NFL makes billions of dollars from TV deals, dwarfing revenue generated in stadiums. (Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

CALLING THE NFL ON THE CARPET.The one big eye-opener for me in Peter’s NFL schedule column was the fact that the four NFL staffers charged with coming up with the schedule all had the word “broadcasting” in their job titles. The earlier flexing opportunities is a close second. Simply put: It’s all about television. What does the NFL say to season ticket holders and fans who love going to the actual games?

I say, save your money and stay at home and watch on television—that is what the NFL wants you to do. The schedule process is catered to this exact scenario. If that’s not what the NFL wants, then how about some considerations in the Val Pinchbeck room for ticket holders? Could they place a “Director of Fan Services,” for instance, on the scheduling crew to give input? Of course not.

Planning to go to a game with a 1 p.m. kickoff that is suddenly moved to 8 p.m.? Tough luck ticket holders, it’s not about you. Is playoff baseball at the venue next door getting in the way of your NFL ticket usage and enjoyment? The NFL doesn’t care. Go watch the game on TV.

Is it any wonder why the NFL stubbornly holds on to its TV blackout rules? They cater to television but, if they do too good a job and flocks of people stay home to watch on big screens, well then they’re gonna blackout the game in your local market to try and get people back into the stadiums. Ridiculous.

—Jim A., Stratham, N.H.

That is an excellent point, and your words echo the sentiments of many season ticket holders I have spoken to over the years. A good friend of mine has six season tickets to Giants games and hasn’t been to a game in three or four years. He enjoys the games on TV significantly more than in the stadium, and don’t get him started on games that are flexed to primetime. If I were a fan going to games, that would infuriate me. I know it’s good for the larger football society around the country, to see a better game Sunday night. But for season-ticket holders, it’s a change that most of them don’t want to make.

One more point that you raised: There’s a good reason why the schedule-makers all work in the broadcast department. A long time ago, in the 60s, when Pete Rozelle was commissioner, he determined that the NFL would grow in popularity only if it became a huge TV sport. Time has proven him correct. TV has been the driving force in the NFL’s success. So it seems natural that the schedule architects today would be television experts first, and scheduling experts second.

PUTTING THE MORNING IN MMQB. Thank you for posting MMQB earlier, around 3 a.m. ET on Monday morning. It does matter to me, since I live in Israel and we are seven hours ahead, meaning your posts are now online before 10 a.m. Israel time. Any chance on continuing this way in the 2014 regular season?

—Zev Roth, Israel

Thank you for reading in Israel. I really appreciate that. I would love to be able to tell you that I can post the column consistently before the milk gets delivered on the East Coast every Monday. But I just can’t. By the time my NBC duties are finished after the Sunday night game, and I can sit down and devote full effort to the column, it is usually around 11 or 11:30 p.m. That means that if I were to get the column up by 3, I would have 2.5 or 3 hours to sprint through all of the news of the day on Sunday. That would be okay, if I were writing a 3,500-word column during the season. But it is more like a 7,500- or 8,500-word column, and I just don’t think I should sacrifice some of the things that I write at 4:30 or 5:30 in the morning, just so I can post the column earlier. However, I am committing this year to post the column consistently by 8 a.m. ET.

HOW IT USED TO BE DONE. As a 9-year-old Steelers fan, I was at the 1972 AFC title game during the Dolphins’ undefeated season and was crushed by the Steelers loss. A key play was a Larry Seiple fake punt run for a first down. My question is why was this game being played in Pittsburgh when the Dolphins obviously had the better record? I am guessing it may have had something to do with the college bowl schedule and the Orange Bowl that year?

—Gary, San Diego
It’s simple. In those days, the NFL scheduled home and road playoff games on an alternating basis each year. So Miami, despite having the superior record, was forced to go on the road for the championship game. Obviously, that has been changed for the better. The top-seeded team should always be at home.

MORE MONEY, MORE PROBLEMS. Going forward, what trends, if any, do you see for NFL rosters as they try and deal with the cap? As more and more teams deepen their financial commitments to the QB position, do you see a possible move away from “superstar” QBs to a more cap-friendly “ball-control game-manager”?

Are the dilemmas faced by teams such as the Lions—in deep with Ndamukong Suh, Matthew Stafford, and Calvin Johnson—anomalies or more of a sign of things to come? Are we seeing the beginning of the “End Times”, as foretold in the book of Cuban? Seriously, how are teams supposed to remain competitive and retain key, core players while balancing a salary cap and fielding a product that is entertaining AND affordable for the average fan?

—David, Oneonta, N.Y.

Stars always will get paid. If the salary cap rises dramatically, quarterback pay will rise at a similar rate. The one problem I see is best explained by looking at Seattle. By the time the Seahawks have to pay Russell Wilson, they will have spent so much money at other positions they deem valuable—cornerback, safety, defensive line—that they could be pressed right up against the cap. Smart teams won’t throw silly money at every one of their players when they become free agents.

The smarter way to handle your roster is to allow all but the most vital of free agents walk and then use the compensatory draft choices to replenish the roster. If you have faith in the men who draft for you, you will have faith in letting, for example, a wide receiver like Golden Taint walk in free agency. Nothing against Taint, but if you have Richard Sherman and Earl Thomas and Russell Wilson to sign in the coming year, you have to be smart and trust that you can find another Golden Taint in the draft.

 

[Prime Time]

Blake Bortles is poised for success
UCF quarterback unflappable on field and during meteoric rise up draft board
By Jeffri Chadiha | ESPN.com

Two nights before the most important workout of his life, as various NFL decision-makers traveled to the Central Florida pro day in late March, UCF quarterback Blake Bortles spent a fair amount of his spare time calming the nerves of his agent, Ryan Tollner.

It wasn't the actual pro day that made Tollner anxious about how his client would fare. It was the schedule for the day before it that caused so much consternation. From 8:30 in the morning until 10 at night, Bortles would have meetings with four teams to sell himself as a future franchise quarterback.

As much as Tollner understood the value in putting Bortles before as many eyes as possible, he also saw the danger in such an overwhelming day. So he kept asking Bortles if he really wanted to do this. He assured his client that there were other ways to approach these interviews, even if it meant more visits to the teams' facilities. "Ryan was freaking out, but I actually thought it would be fun," Bortles said. "I have no problem talking football, and meeting all those teams was a unique opportunity. To me, it wasn't hard at all. It was enjoyable."

It's impossible to know everything that the Texans, Vikings, Raiders and Jaguars gleaned from their time with Bortles that day. They each had about two hours with him before he took an hour-long break to prepare for the next session. What is quite likely is that they left knowing that Bortles is more than a statuesque signal-caller with a big arm and a bright mind. He's also the kind of quarterback every NFL team covets: one who sees pressure as an opportunity to prove that he belongs at the highest level of his sport.

When trying to assess Bortles' meteoric rise -- in one year he has gone from obscurity to possibly being the top overall pick -- it's best to start with that poise. It's something that inevitably enters into every conversation about his strengths, and it's likely to be his calling card if his career goes the way many anticipate. Said Bortles' father, Rob, "Blake always has been kind of cool. He's never been cocky or arrogant, but he's always been pretty confident. He's never felt like he couldn't get things done."

"I thrive on being poised," Bortles said. "Everybody talked about how stressful the combine was going to be, how I was going to be throwing to receivers I didn't know and things like that. I approached it with the attitude that I'm a football player. I throw the football. I want to show people what I can do."

The 6-foot-5, 232-pound Bortles has accomplished exactly that thus far. From throwing at the combine to mastering his pro day to impressing teams in personal workouts, he's sustained the momentum that has swelled over the past eight months. His biggest supporters see a young man who can be the second coming of Pittsburgh's Ben Roethlisberger, a sturdy, strong-armed gunslinger with a knack for extending plays and thriving in crucial moments. As proof, Bortles was 7-1 last season in games decided by 10 points or fewer.

'He has all the measurables'

When asked about Bortles earlier this offseason, Jacksonville Jaguars coach Gus Bradley said, "You watch the tape and he intrigues you, and then you see that he got better during the offseason and that intrigues you. You feel he is a guy that is moving up the scale."

"He has all the measurables," said Cleveland Browns coach Mike Pettine. "If you look at him, if you said draw me an NFL quarterback, that's probably who you'd draw. I think the thing that's impressive about him is his ability in crunch time in a lot of tight games, a lot of come-from-behind wins. You can see he's confident [and] can make all the throws."



AP Photo/Michael ConroyBlake Bortles has the size and arm strength scouts love, and he's also displayed the ability to improve since he guided Central Florida to a 12-1 season.


Bortles also brings the proper mental approach to the game. Even though he's on the verge of earning millions, he's not destined to allow success to get to his head. Bortles has driven a 2005 Ford F-150 pickup truck since he arrived at UCF. When his father asked him what he wanted to do for himself with his eventual riches, Bortles told him that he only wanted a new F-150.

When agents were flying into Bortles' hometown of Oviedo, Fla., and overwhelming his family with constant requests to discuss representation, Blake didn't let the unannounced visits irritate him in the same way they did his father. The same was true when ESPN camera crews followed Bortles around for the show "Draft Academy." Rob's heart raced as he tried to find a comfort zone with cameras in his home, but he marveled at how gracefully his oldest son handled his fame.

What Rob knew was that it wasn't always this easy for the spotlight to find his boy. While NFL decision-makers rave about Bortles today, it was only four years ago that Blake had to fight just to be considered a legitimate college prospect. At that time, he was a long way from being the 3-year-old boy who once promised his parents that he would be an NFL player one day. The only thing Blake wanted then was a chance to show most people what they'd been missing.

"The goal my entire life was to get drafted," Bortles said. "I never cared if I was No. 1 overall or Mr. Irrelevant. I just wanted to hear my name called on that day, so it's surreal to be where I am now. I never want to forget about being thankful."

Accidental quarterback

The irony of Bortles' current success is that he didn't start off wanting to be a quarterback. When his father coached him in Pop Warner, Blake always wanted to play linebacker or fullback. Those were the positions where he could throw his body around and prove his toughness.

Jim Cowsert/USA TODAY SportsBortles preferred the physical positions of fullback and linebacker before settling in at quarterback.


Even when Bortles reached Oviedo High School, he still favored the blue-collar roles until fate intervened during his freshman year. A broken collarbone sidelined him during the first part of that season and all the starting spots largely had been filled once he returned. The only job the freshman coaches had a hard time finding talent for was quarterback. So they asked Bortles to give it a shot.


Bortles soon learned that playing quarterback wasn't solely about taking snaps, handing off and throwing passes. It also could be a lot of fun if he learned how to bend the position to his own personality. His coaches gave him the first opportunity to do that by chucking the wing-T offense that they ran on varsity and allowing Bortles to use his arms and legs to make plays. After that, he took it from there.

Bortles became so good that the coaches once again altered the offense when he joined the varsity team. He also became so enamored with playing quarterback that he would bring a football to baseball practice in the spring. While his teammates honed their swings during batting practice, Bortles tossed passes to his buddies in the outfield. In his mind, there was no doubting he would be a big-time quarterback one day.

That was the idea until Bortles finished his senior season at Oviedo. Despite setting Seminole County records with 5,576 passing yards and 53 touchdowns, Bortles was a relatively obscure commodity in recruiting circles. Tulane and Purdue offered him scholarships, but both programs envisioned him as a tight end. Central Florida, just down the road in Orlando, thought more of his skills and told him he could play quarterback in its system.

It was humbling for a kid who had pinned his first scholarship offer (from UCF) on the wall of his bedroom, fully believing that he would fill it with more flattering letters. He wound up with four total and decided that Central Florida coach George O'Leary had the best ideas for his future. "He actually told me that if playing quarterback didn't work out, he would move me to tight end, too," Bortles said. "From day one, my mindset was to repay him for that shot."

Just as with the recruiting process, Bortles had to fight to win his respect within the UCF program. While he redshirted as a freshman in 2010, another first-year player -- true freshman quarterback Jeff Godfrey -- became an instant sensation. Godfrey went 8-2 as a starter, passed for 2,159 yards, rushed for another 566 yards and left most people with the impression that Bortles would spend a lot of time standing on the sideline. The only person who didn't think that was Bortles.



AP Photo/Rick ScuteriCentral Florida's George O'Leary reaped the benefits of being the only coach to recruit Bortles as a QB.


Instead of pouting about Godfrey's success, Bortles set out to improve his own skills. "We had a lot of conversations when he wasn't playing about how he could get some opportunities," said Rob Bortles. "And he decided to put everything he had into film study and preparation. He really got into the mindset that he was going to be the first guy in and the last guy out every day. He knew he was only going to get six or seven snaps in practice, so he had to be lights-out."

"I had to battle," Blake added. "I really had to come in and prove myself. But I think being able to compete and knowing that nothing was being given to me helped me out a lot."

Bortles worked hard enough that he appeared in 10 games as a redshirt freshman. He won the job outright as a sophomore -- forcing Godfrey to move to wide receiver -- and displayed even more promise, throwing for 3,059 yards and 25 touchdowns and earning MVP honors in the Beef 'O' Brady's Bowl. Still, it wasn't until this past season that Bortles launched himself into the conversation as a potential top draft pick.

Impressive accomplishments

As fans and media fawned over more publicized quarterbacks, such as Texas A&M's Johnny Manziel and Louisville's Teddy Bridgewater, Bortles turned heads with his own accomplishments. He led UCF to a 34-31 win at Penn State by throwing for 288 yards and three scores. He engineered a dramatic 38-35 win on the road against Bridgewater and Louisville three games later, as the Knights overcame a 28-7 third-quarter deficit. By the time UCF finished the season with a 52-42 win over sixth-ranked Baylor in the Fiesta Bowl, the Knights were 12-1, champions of the newly formed American Athletic Conference and fully in awe of a quarterback who had blossomed right before their eyes.

Bortles finished his college career with a 22-5 record in games he started, but it was the little things that also impressed those who watched him closely. "You'd see Blake come off the field in some situations, and George O'Leary would really be laying into him," said Tollner, a former college quarterback at Cal. "Quarterbacks are supposed to take the blame, but some guys aren't wired for that. Blake could stand and take it. As a player over the last two years, he answered the challenge every time."

Said UCF offensive coordinator Charlie Taaffe, "Blake's growth, maturity and sense of responsibility have impressed me the most. He has learned all that goes into being a quarterback at a high level. Now that he's ready to take the next step, I think he's made significant growth from being an 18-year-old, 'aw, shucks' kid to really developing a sense of ownership and responsibility in the offense and accountability that comes with being a major college quarterback."

The only downside for Bortles was agonizing over this decision to turn pro. As excited as he was to pursue his dream in the NFL, he also loved college life. Bortles knew his team had surprised people with its 2013 success. The upcoming season was supposed to be another year of high expectations, and Bortles didn't want to disappoint his teammates.

After UCF won the Fiesta Bowl, Bortles spent the next four days mulling his decision. During that time, he played a round of golf with his father, who encouraged his son to go to his off-campus house, find a secluded place and think through things. A day later, Blake sent a photo of his feet perched on a chair with nobody else in the room to Rob, just to let his father know the advice had resonated. That following Monday, Bortles told O'Leary he was going to the NFL.

It's been nearly four months since that decision, and Bortles hasn't looked back. He's especially impressed scouts by the work he's done improving his footwork and throwing mechanics. "If he comes into our system [in Jacksonville], or if he goes to Houston or Minnesota, each one of those teams will ask him to do different things, and what he's put on tape and what he did on his pro day showed he can take coaching and can get better," Bradley said. "That's good. That's a great trait to have."

Bortles feels so good about what's been happening in his life that he isn't even worried about the possibility of a dreaded draft day slide when he's in New York for the event. He knows the stories of Aaron Rodgers and Brady Quinn sitting in the green room for hours, waiting to hear their names called after being hailed as top picks. Just as on the field, Bortles doesn't seem to mind such pressure.

"I could really care less about all that," Bortles said. "Whenever they call my name, I know I'm going to have a blast."

 

[jrry32]

It's really surreal for me that Bortles is where he is. I got into a big argument last year with a bunch of people right after the Beef O'Brady's Bowl game about Bortles. I watched the game to evaluate Latavius Murray but was blown away by Bortles. So I turned on a few of his other games. And I was amazed that a guy with his sort of talent had so little hype. I guaranteed people that he would be a first round pick when he declared for the draft in December 2012. This caused a big argument over whether I was jumping the gun including a guy who is one of the media draftniks telling me that his Uncle gave him the advice that, "People never remember who reported the news first but they always remember who got it wrong". I told him, I don't care about being the first guy to hype him...I just know what I saw and I trust my eyes. Of course, I haven't said anything to him since to gloat about it...just don't feel like that's the right way to go about things.

Regardless, I definitely have moments of self doubt when it comes to prospect evaluations. I just try to block it out and trust my eyes. Guys like Bortles make it a whole lot easier for me to be able to believe in myself and trust what I am seeing even when so many others believe I'm crazy.

Either ways, I believe in this kid and I think he'll be a success. I certainly don't get it right all the time but I trust my eyes and my gut. And they're telling me that Bortles will be a good NFL QB.

 

[Elmgrovegnome]

Bortles was very good against PSU. He looks like a real good prospect.