The Jacksonville Jaguars don't want their young quarterback to stop using his feet.
New offensive coordinator Greg Olson told The Florida Times-Union that Blake Bortles will be encouraged to extend plays on the ground as part of the team's revised scheme.
"When a play does break down protection-wise and you have a guy that can go get yards, you don't want to discourage it," Olson said. "There is a time to make something to happen with your feet. For other quarterbacks, that's not part of their makeup. That's a strength of Blake's and we want him to continue to utilize that."
The Jaguars obviously don't want to strip Bortles of a positive trait, but that's exactly what we saw the 49ers do to some degree with Colin Kaepernick last season. The result was a mess, leading to Niners brass asking for more designed runs for Kaepernick in 2015.
Olson also wants to grow Bortles in the pocket, which will require the Jaguars to cut down on a franchise-worst 71 sacks from last season. The constant pressure directly led to Bortles finishing second on the team with 419 rushing yards.
Bortles was a hot-and-cold act, showing off a big arm on tape, but also holding the ball too long and forcing throws that contributed to his 17 interceptions, second most in the NFL. Still, his massive 6-foot-5, 232-pound frame gives Olson a promising young signal-caller to build the attack around.
"As we get better working in conjunction as an offense there should be less of those opportunities," Olson said. "Then, he can become more of a pocket passer. But, we never want to discourage him using his ability."
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