http://stats.inpredictable.com/rankings/nfl.php

this is, i think, the first time i've ever seen 13th place be the cutoff for negative GPF

you can set your watch to 32. jax

how are they so consistent

First look at 2015's division strengths:

Well when you take Blake Bortles 3rd overall and give a pretty sizeable contract to SCRAPPY WHITE RB it's safe to assume you're a franchise without much of a clue

Plus their first rounder this year obliterated his acl on the very first practice so it's same to assume they're also a franchise without very much luck

What happened to Blackmon? Did he drink his way off the Jags and out of the league? Good on him.

Jacksonville started their run of bad play in 2007, but they've only been awful the last 4 years. In the last 8 drafts, they've drafted QBs twice, but they've scarcely had a viable opportunity to draft a franchise QB. However, I don't recall Flacco being rated as a top 10 prospect in any prominent draft prognostication.

In 2008, they picked Derrick Harvey, DE, 8th overall. Flacco was the next earliest QB drafted and went 18th. This may have been their best shot to draft a franchise QB.

In 2009, they picked Eugene Monroe, OT, 8th overall. Josh Freeman was the next earliest QB drafted and went 17th.

In 2010, they picked Tyson Alualu, DT, 10th overall (Tebow, 25th; Clausen, 48th).

In 2011, they picked Gabbert 10th overall. Andy Dalton went 35th overall, but was not widely considered a viable early 1st round pick. Certainly, JAX could've picked him here, and they would have had a franchise QB. But I still think Flacco in 2008 was a more viable and realistic reach.

In 2012, they picked Justin Blackmon 5th overall. Tannehill went 8th. Jury's still out on him as a franchise guy, but this was certainly a small error in drafting.

In 2013, they picked Joeckel 2nd overall (E.J. Manuel, the only QB selected in R1, was picked 16th; Geno went 39th). Can't fault them here at all.

In 2014, they picked Blake Bortles, 3rd overall (JFF went 22nd and Teddy went 32nd). Can't argue they made much of a mistake here: all 3 guys suck and none are likely to be franchise guys--Teddy has regressed this year and was bad last year as a rook. Bortles, strangely, looks like the best prospect of the 3 at this point.

In 2015, they picked Fowler, DE, 3rd. Next QB selected was Garrett Grayson 75th overall.

In sum, other than Flacco in 2008 and arguably Tannehill in 2012, JAX can't be faulted too much for their drafting of a QB. The reality is they have just had a run of bad luck; and they really haven't been as awful as it seems to have the chance to bink a franchise QB with a top 1 or 2 pick.

Bortles may bust but he was going in the top 5 whether the Jags picked him or not. The GM comments from around the league made it clear there was either a whole lot of lying GM's or genuine belief he was worth taking in the top 5.

He had a lot of things to like coming out of college. He obviously has good size and arm strength but for me the most important thing was he didn't have a dominant team around him to protect him and make things easy yet he still made plays down field and won games against a pretty good schedule. Leading Central freaking Florida to a 12-1 record, top 10 final ranking, and a BCS bowl win was pretty damn impressive. When you've got an NFL body and arm with good stats and that record you're going top 5 every single time in the NFL draft and deservedly so.

He was nothing like the project picks Blaine Gabbert or Jake Locker were. Blaine and Jake sucked in college but a lot of people looked at them and for some reason thought, "he's such a good athlete and has so much potential maybe he can develop and be better in the NFL than he was in college." Lol at that idiocy. Bortles was mega elite in college and he didn't have a dominant team around him to carry him.

Bortles seems to be playing better this year than last year and maybe he'll continue to improve. They certainly aren't trying to protect him and shelter him from the cold cruel NFL world. They're sending him out there and telling him to throw a lot and try to carry the team.

Wasn't Tannehill at 8 a bit of a reach at the time? Hard to fault them at all for not taking Tannehill at 5. Not like he's good today anyway.

They had just busted on Blaine as a project pick so it was unrealistic to expect them to gamble the very next year on another project pick. Despite his inexperience Tannehill was still less of a project than Gabbert and Tannehill actually looked like a good college QB unlike Gabbert. It's just unfathomable how he went in the first round much less the top 10. He sucked at Missouri in a system that produced big numbers when guided by a midget just a year or two before (Chase Daniels).

Their first rounder this year was also a pretty bad pick. You know how teams often prioritize measurable athleticism over college production? Dante Fowler has neither.

Anyway, the real reason the team has been bad for so long is that Gene Smith might legit have the worst drafting record of any team in NFL history, including whichever guy was GM for the old Bucs and submitted the wrong player name so they had to trade up to take the right player.

I agree with Palo on Bortles-- his mechanics were a mess but there was a lot to like coming out of college (he completed 67% of his passes that year, so he was statistically productive as well as winning games). I have also made the Gabbert/Daniel comparison many times, if you want to know why Gabbert was such a clown pick.

Agreed. I was more arguing from the point of view that says "if any QB is within a reasonable range from one's draft position, then you have to draft him if you don't already have a franchise guy."

I'm not arguing that Jacksonville has drafted well the last decade, but rather that they haven't had (m)any opportunities to bink a franchise QB since they've sucked. Smith's tenure from 2009-2012, they maybe missed on Tannehill, and that's it for viable franchise QBs.

I think it's important to remember too that the Jags traded up for Harvey, Gabbert, and Blackmon. They probably could have made a similar move for a different QB at some point, but as long as GM GENE was calling the shots, I'm not sure I would have wanted them to.

Trading up for blackmon and picking him was the most reasonable pick they made out of that group by far since looking at the board at that pick, would've been my top guy too, (he made brandon weeden a 1st round pick remember). Joeckel/Gabbert were consensus (not me obviously) b/c lol NFL (they almost all use the same scouting style/services so that's why they make the same mistakes year after year)

Gabbert had the best pro day ever which was why he was a consensus 1st rounder despite being bad in college, stats showed it (daniel was better in school than gabbert was not only in team success but on the stats too though they were 2 different QB's in ability), and the tape showed it. They drafted a punter in the 3rd round. Later rounds lately have been good but fowler was a garbage pick anyway despite the unluck with the health component though the NFL loved him (tape didn't support it; but he was a consensus NFL world top 5 pick obviously).

I'm a bit surprised at the Gus Bradley support as no coach in NFL history has gotten this much job security while being this bad except the expansion bucs.

No GM will or can ever take a franchise QB the year after drafting one. Congrats, you just fired yourself.

Agreed on Blackmon-- they picked #7 and it was widely considered a six-prospect draft. (Of course, in hindsight, almost none of those six have worked out as expected.)

Regarding the scouting services, I rail on this all the time, but 3/4 of the teams use NFS or BLESTO. Strangely enough, the ones who seem to have their own internal scouting, based on their own needs and preferences, do better. (Which is why Baltimore is constantly scooping good players that drop for no good reason-- LOL teams letting Carl Davis fall to the third round.)

Regarding Bradley, the buzz is starting to build for his firing. The talent excuse won't hold much longer; the team needs to show improvement. Seems like they took a chance hoping they would get Dan Quinn but got unlucky with their place in line.

bottles seems nonterrible most times from the eye test this year

Yup. And their defense and running game seems highly suspect. The bort has been slanging it.

Bortles is 5th in TDs and 6th in yards. Still makes some bad mistakes, still producing mostly in garbage time (he's 22nd in DVOA and DYAR), but makes the occasional really good throws and clearly has the talent. I think he'll work out OK.

His stats aren't that terrible either. It's only his second year in the league and he isn't exactly blessed with talent around him. Who knows what he might be able to do with a little more experience and a good RB and WR to support him?

He'll never be better than Clowney!

He has a good RB and a good WR. (And a very good one as well.)

Mr glass arian foster out for the season again. Everyone in houston is fired

How many times did they punt as they were working their best player down by 60?

Technically the game wasn"t over. It was a 3 score game with like 8 minutes left. I've seen the Texans lose those several times. And with Indy getting curbstomped and the afcs being awful, you really cant blame them for keeping him in and trying for the .8% chance they come back.

The dude ripped his achilles tendon running.