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What to Expect from Blake Bortles and Derek Carr in Year Two

Blake Bortles was the first quarterback taken in the 2014 NFL draft.

We’re on the cusp of something unprecedented in NFL history and we should all take notice. Never before in the history of the NFL have we had this many capable quarterbacks running professional football offenses and never before have we had this many young quarterbacks ready to make that next step.

Jacksonville Jaguars QB Blake Bortles and Oakland Raiders QB Derek Carr enter their second seasons with their cleats laced up and a chance to join that club. Should we be excited about that?

Out of 32 NFL teams we currently have 16 proven starters, which doesn’t look good on its face, but is actually better than the NFL average over the years. Back in 1988, just five years after the fabled “QB Class of ’83” we had a total of 12 legitimate starters and that’s counting Chicago Bears quarterback Jim McMahon and that’s probably the last time someone will talk about him as “legitimate” outside of his rap skills.

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Nine years later, for instance, the NFL had a total of eight legitimate starters and those names include future first-ballot “Hall of Forgotten Players” like Brad Johnson and Mark Brunell and Elvis Grbac.

The fact that we’ve got 16 right now is actually pretty spectacular. The fact that by the end of the season we could have 23 or 24 is downright unprecedented. And I’m not even counting Andy Dalton in Cincinnati or Colin Kaepernick in San Francisco in that number. And I won’t. And no one should.

Derek Carr was the last big-name quarterback taken in the 2014 draft and had probably the second best season behind the Minnesota Vikings Teddy Bridgewater. Carr’s rookie season saw him complete 58.1 percent of his passes for 3,270 yards, 21 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. All that as a rookie.

To put that into perspective, Kaepernick completed 60.5 percent of his passes for 3,369 yards, 19 touchdowns and 10 picks. He was in his fourth year and it was, unquestionably, his best season. Who would you rather have as your QB coming into 2015? And if you answer Kaepernick all I can say is thanks for coming to GetMoreSports Jim Tomsula. You probably don’t want to read too far back in the archives.

Carr came out in his first preseason action with the Raiders and looked sharp, going 6-for-8 and leading a scoring drive. He did throw a pick, but he was also facing a defense that will force plenty of quarterbacks into ill-conceived passes before the year’s out. The fact that he was smart, accurate and got the ball out quick to keep his uniform clean against the Rams front should make every Raiders fan pretty excited.

While I don’t much care for the hiring of head coach Jack Del Rio, nor the staff of NFL veteran washouts he’s hired as assistant coaches, it could definitely be worse for Carr. And it’s not going to hurt that he’s got some tremendous receivers to throw to including future All-Pro Amari Cooper. With Cooper, Michael Crabtree, Kimbrell Thompkins and Brice Butler the Raiders are surprisingly deep at receiver.

Not only that, but the Raiders have one of the most underrated young tight ends in the game, Mychal Rivera and drafted 6-4, 250 pound rookie Clive Walford out of Miami in April. Oakland is searching for a featured running back and may have it with Latavius Murray and if they don’t, they’ve signed Trent Richardson and Roy Helu as free agents to at least threaten to run the ball.

Bortles didn’t enjoy the rookie success that Carr did and doesn’t have as many tools to be successful this year and that’s really not the Jaguars’ fault. Two seasons ago the Jags drafted Justin Blackmon and he should have been their Amari Cooper. Instead, he’s been their Ryan Leaf, is currently out of the NFL on a huge suspension and may never return.

Therefore the team’s wide receiver position has been thrown into turmoil. Second-year man Allen Hurns appears to be a legitimate NFL pass-catcher, but maybe not a No. 1. Allen Robinson, also a second-year guy, starts on the other side and is just a body, barely catching half the passes tossed in his direction last year.

Their best prospect is Marqise Lee out of USC. Also a second-year guy with tons of physical talent, he got beaten out by Hurns and Robinson last year so that can’t be a good sign.

What the Jaguars do have are tight ends and running backs and they have plenty. Jacksonville owner Shahid Khan opened up his purse and spent money this offseason like he just got the new Madden game.

Rookie T.J. Yeldon will take over as starting running back at some point and Julius Thomas and Mercedes Lewis could be the best tight end tandem in the league. While Bortles and the Jags may have to create ways to attack downfield, their red zone and medium yardage game should be a good one and the New England Patriots have proven you can win with that, minus all the cheating and deflated footballs.

Last year Bortles completed 58.9 percent of his passes for 2,908 yards, 11 touchdowns and 17 picks. That’s upside down on the TD-Picks ratio, but common for a rookie. That’s really what makes Carr’s season so spectacular. The last rookie that had a positive TD-INT ratio was Sam Bradford he won offensive rookie of the year.

Bortles was great in his preseason debut Saturday night, going 11-for-15 for 118 yards for a 96 quarterback rating and rushed for a touchdown against the Pittsburgh Steelers starting defense.

So what should we expect out of these guys in 2015? I don’t see playoff seasons for either team. In the AFC 9-7 or 8-8 won’t be good enough to get in and the Raiders could put up either record. The Jags will probably still be picking in the Top 10, but a 6-10 or 7-9 record isn’t out of the question and a few big, surprising wins over much better teams are a real possibility.

The Raiders’ are in the tougher division, with three teams ahead of them (the Denver Broncos, San Diego Chargers and Kansas City Chiefs) that should all be fighting for playoff spots. The Jaguars have one great team to play twice a year (the Indianapolis Colts) and a couple of teams that should be better than they are on paper (the Houston Texans and the Tennessee Titans), but, as they say, you don’t play the games on paper.

Either way, both teams should be way more fun to watch this season and make a few more appearances on the NFL RedZone channel.

Written by Adam Greene

Adam Greene is a writer and photographer based out of East Tennessee. His work has appeared on Cracked.com, in USA Today, the Associated Press, the Chicago Cubs Vineline Magazine, AskMen.com and many other publications.

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