The Broncos should stay far, far away from Blake Bortles

The New Orleans Saints released Blake Bortles on Tuesday morning and the general reaction was “meh, who cares?”

But when one prominent Broncos beat writer suggested Bortles could / should return to Denver, some heads were turned. This is from Ryan O’Halloran of The Denver Post.

#Broncos. Hackett. Makes Too Much Sense. https://t.co/shR5b6dukE

— Ryan O'Halloran (@ryanohalloran) April 5, 2022

Bortles was the starting QB in Jacksonville from 2014-2018 and new Broncos head coach Nathaniel Hackett was the quarterbacks coach and then offensive coordinator with the Jaguars from 2015-2018, so obviously there’s history there. But signing Bortles to be the backup for Russell Wilson in Denver would be asinine for multiple reasons.

First, Bortles stinks. He hasn’t played a down in an NFL regular season game since 2019 with the Rams. Since then he’s bounced around with the Broncos, back to the Rams and a brief stint in Green Bay (with Hackett). But it’s never stuck. Bortles hasn’t been worth of getting on the field or even holding down a backup job, so why would the Broncos give him a chance now?

And speaking of a chance, it’d actually be a second chance for Bortles in Denver. He was infamously apart of the COVID contact tracer scandal, which eventually caused the Broncos to have to start Kendall Hinton at quarterback against the Saints. The whole story is ridiculous and doesn’t need to be rehashed here, but the reality is Bortles was in the room and could have stopped the shenanigans and didn’t.

Finally, the Broncos already have two capable backup quarterbacks on the roster. The team signed Josh Johnson, a seasoned veteran who’s been in the NFL since 2008, and has Brett Rypien as well. Adding Bortles to the mix just because he has history with Hackett makes no sense. It’d be putting another cook in the kitchen for no good reason, and the reality is the Broncos season is in deep trouble if Wilson gets hurt.

Blake Bortles getting released on Tuesday morning shouldn’t have even registered a blip in Broncos Country. Hopefully this is the last time we have to address it.

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