In order to be the best, you must seek out the best. This is why Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Blake Bortles spent part of his offseason taking notes.
"We wanted him to seek the quarterbacks out who have a similar style of play and guys who were at the top of their games," offensive coordinator Greg Olson said, via Jacksonville.com.
The result? Conversations with Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers and Cardinals quarterback Carson Palmer.
"I bounced ideas off of them and asked them, 'What would you do differently?'" Bortles said. "Aaron was awesome. One of the things he said was, 'Don't try and score 21 points every time you have the ball.' That's what I've had to learn.
"Carson was good. He's laid back, and he's an unbelievable quarterback and leader in the NFL. He said similar things. He said, 'Just continue to build chemistry and rapport with the guys you're with.'"
While this might seem like a banal summer update, some of us are looking at this as another piece of mounting evidence in Jacksonville's favor. Bortles wants to be great, and so do his top targets, Allen Hurns and Allen Robinson. The trio remain near Jacksonville for a large portion of the offseason, working out together and putting in the kind of work necessary to make them a consistent top 10 offense.
Maybe the act of phoning Rodgers doesn't make him better in the moment, but it's important information that Bortles can store away when the time comes.
Jacksonville remains one of the major reasons we can't wait for the 2016 season to start. While there are bigger storylines to follow, there is nothing as exciting as a process building toward a potential payoff. This team, after years of historically bad drafting and free agent practices, is finally ready to compete for a playoff spot. Bortles will be a major reason for their success or failure.
