By: JJ Lanier

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

When I initially heard Jacksonville had extended the contract of Blake Bortles (3 yr/$54 million; $26.5 million guaranteed) the first thing that popped in my head was “Tom Coughlin has some terminal illness and the doctors are treating it with medical marijuana.”

You see, the only explanation I could come up with as to why Coughlin would extend Bortles’ contract was that when he made this decision he had to have been sitting on his couch, stoned out his mind, eating powdered donuts, and watching “The Big Lebowski”.

Not many people wanted one more year of the Blake Bortles Experiment, let alone three. Of course, the more I read and thought about it, the more I actually liked the move.

For starters, Jacksonville just freed up $9 million in cap space for this upcoming season. Bortles was scheduled to clear $19 million dollars, instead of the $10 million he will now make.

As close as the Jaguars were to winning the AFC this year, having an extra $9 million to either bring in new players (a wide receiver perhaps), or resign current ones, is extremely valuable.

Secondly, when it comes to the going rate for a starting NFL Quarterback, especially one who just played in a Conference Championship (regardless of how vital he may or may not have been in achieving that), Jacksonville is getting Bortles on the cheap.

Obviously, Coughlin and Doug Marrone see something in the soon to be 5th year quarterback that makes them feel comfortable about having Bortles lead this team, at least for next year.

It’s also very possible that both Coughlin and Marrone were not all that impressed with the available quarterbacks on the market and figured their best chance going into next season was to stick with the quarterback they already have. A “Better the devil you know than the devil you don’t” scenario. I’d put my money on the latter.

Plus, and I know this isn’t how Jacksonville is hoping this turns out, but if Bortles continue his less than stellar play, they’ll have a couple options at their disposal. The Jaguars could release him, which is what most people would probably expect.

Financially, it would be a bit of a hit, but minimal enough that it makes this extension worth the risk. They could also try and trade him; his contract did just become a little more appealing to other teams. I’m not saying Jacksonville would be able to get much in return, but in a year where backup quarterbacks played such a large role, a team could do worse than having Bortles as their backup.

Personally, I don’t believe Blake Bortles is the long term answer for Jacksonville. Besides his 2nd season and a handful of games here and there in which he played well, there hasn’t been anything I’ve consistently seen that makes me think next season will be any different than the last two.

But, when you consider Coughlin had already committed to bringing Bortles back next year, I completely understand why this extension happened.

There are a variety of reasons a team may extend a quarterback’s contract- play; money; they don’t like the other options that are out there. Like in most professions, the reason why isn’t nearly as important as what the person does with the opportunity.

With the Jacksonville Jaguars being so close to reaching their ultimate goal of playing in the Super Bowl, Coughlin and Marrone are hoping Bortles will make the most of his. However, they’ve taken the necessary steps, just in case he doesn’t.