Jacksonville Jaguars general manager David Caldwell has admitted that quarterback Blake Bortles was just trying to survive in his rookie season with the club.
The 23-year-old struggled for form in the 2014 campaign after being selected with the third overall pick in the Draft last year.
However, Caldwell has defended Bortles by insisting that he was playing with an injury as well trying to cope with understanding the complexity of the NFL.
He told reporters: "He was just doing things to survive last year. The whole mechanical flaw thing is overrated. He hurt his foot against Baltimore and he had shoulder inflammation issues later in the year – just a tired arm.
"Evaluator X may be watching the film and saying, 'Oh, he's dropping the ball.' But he had to so he could get it where it needed to go. You have to give him credit for that.
"He's fine tuned it and done a good job. I thought his mechanics were sound coming in – we thought he needed some work and he really did work on them. But the whole thing about him regressing? Nobody who said that was doing any research as to what was going on."
Bortles threw for 2,908 yards and 11 touchdowns to 17 interceptions in the 2014 season.
Simon Sinclair
