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Jaguars announce Blake Bortles will start opener

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The Jaguars owe Blake Bortles $3.2 million, unless he gets traded and it's unlikely that any team is going to strike a deal for the struggling QB.

Meet the new boss of the Jaguars offense, same as the old boss of the Jaguars offense.

The Jaguars announced on Saturday morning that Blake Bortles will be their starting quarterback on September 10 against the Texans. The announcement comes two days after the Jaguars started Chad Henne in their third preseason game and a little more than a week after coach Doug Marrone announced he was opening the job up for competition.

That decision came after Bortles struggled during the first two preseason games to cast further doubt upon his ability to be the right man to lead the Jacksonville offense. He went 12-of-16 for 125 yards, a touchdown and an interception while playing with the first-team offensive line and second-string skill position players against the Panthers on Thursday. Henne was 8-of-14 for 73 yards in the first half of the game.

Choosing Bortles gives the third overall pick of the 2014 draft another chance to show he can be the quarterback the Jaguars though he’d be at the time of that selection. With a $19 million option for 2018 that is guaranteed against injury, it also opens up the possibility that the Jaguars will have to keep Bortles at a high price even if he doesn’t progress as a player.

That risk didn’t outweigh the potential rewards they saw from playing Henne, at least not right out of the gate, and that leaves the Jags right back where they started this summer.