The Jaguars signed Nick Foles and released Blake Bortles this week, finally ending the very long and very underwhelming Blake Bortles era. Since being selected with the 3rd overall pick in the 2014 Draft, Bortles has thrown 2,632 passes, 9th most in the NFL.

During that time, he leads all players in interceptions (75), picks six (13), losses (49), ranks second in fumbles (46), ranks third in sacks taken (195), and ranks 12th in passing yards, 13th in pass completions, and 15th in passing touchdowns.

So how did Bortles last so long? If you squint, you can see how Bortles lasted five years, mostly by never putting together back-to-back clearly bad seasons.

As a rookie in 2014, Bortles finished dead last in ANY/A and went 3-10. It was an awful season, but not necessarily out of line with what you would expect from a rookie quarterback joining a bad team.

In 2015, Bortles then threw 35 touchdowns, tied for the 2nd-most in the NFL. Unfortunately, it was still not a good season: he ranked 23rd out of 36 qualifying passers in ANY/A. I wrote about it at the time, it’s very rare for a quarterback to rank in the top 3 in touchdowns and also in interceptions, as Bortles (who led the 2015 NFL in interceptions) did. There have been 111 quarterbacks to throw 30+ touchdowns in a season since 1970, and Bortles is one of just two to have a below-average ANY/A in that season. ^[1]The other is Aaron Rodgers, surprisingly, but remember his 2015 season was pretty bad: this was the year Jordy Nelson missed, and Rodgers ranked in the bottom 5 in net yards per attempt. This was a mediocre year boosted by two things: Bortles was just 23 years old, so even an average year after an awful rookie season seemed like it could be a step towards him becoming a good quarterback, and the high yardage (4,423) and touchdown (35) totals.

In 2016, Bortles was again terrible, ranking 26th out of 31 qualifying quarterbacks in ANY/A. With a 3-13 record, there was nothing redeeming about this season, but Jacksonville struggled to find a replacement. Jacksonville took Leonard Fournette with the 4th pick in the Draft, as part of a committment to the running game. In doing so, the Jaguars passed on Patrick Mahomes and Deshaun Watson.

In 2017, Bortles was briefly benched for Chad Henne in the preseason, before delivering a bounce-back year. Bortles went 10-6 as the starter and finished above-average in ANY/A for the only time in his career. He was clearly lifted by a very talented supporting cast, including the best defense in the league. In some ways, this was similar to a Mark Sanchez 2010 season, Andy Dalton early in his career, or a poor man’s version of Mitchell Trubsiky in 2018.

So Bortles returned for a fifth season in 2018, which turned out to be another disaster. Bortles finished in the bottom 5 in ANY/A, and a run that lasted way too long — mostly because there was a buffer year around his bad seasons — is finally over.

One interesting Bortles post script: he was a very efficient runner. In fact, he ranks 4th in NFL history in yards per carry among quarterbacks, behind only Michael Vick, Bobby Douglass, and Randall Cunningham. He’s averaged 23.7 rushing yards per game, which is more than Marcus Mariota, Steve McNair, or Donovan McNabb.