Blake Bortles wants to stay with Jaguars

The Jacksonville Jaguars have a decision to make on Blake Bortles’ future, but if it’s up to the quarterback, he’d like to remain right where he is.

The Jaguars have already picked up Bortles’ 2018 option, but his $19 million salary won’t become guaranteed until March, giving Jacksonville a chance to walk away from him if they decide to do so. Bortles is hoping they don’t.

“I’ve enjoyed my four years in Jacksonville and I would love to play here for as long as they let me,” Bortles said, via the Florida Times-Union and ProFootballTalk’s Josh Alper. “What they decide and all of the decisions they make are outside of my control. I would be thrilled to be able to stay here and play here. Hopefully that can happen.”

There are two ways to look at this. Bortles is a limited quarterback, and the Jaguars will have to consider whether they think they can do better. On the other hand, despite his limitations, he very nearly quarterbacked them to the Super Bowl, and they may want to hold out hope that he can take the hurt from this defeat and come back more motivated than ever next year.