Last year, the Jacksonville Jaguars were a bad football team. There's no nice way of putting it. Their defense was poor, their offense was atrocious, and their biggest problem went largely un-addressed in the offseason.
Blaine Gabbert and Chad Henne are returning for at least another season with the Jaguars. Neither quarterback could provide the Jaguars with enough production to win football games last season, and there's little reason to believe they can accomplish that feat this season.
In addition to Gabbert and Henne, the Jaguars have added undrafted rookie Matt Scott, and more recently, former Patriots quarterback Mike Kafka off of waivers. When asked to assess Kafka's chances of winning the team's starting quarterback job, general manager David Caldwell gave a stock, but likely truthful, reply, saying Kafka's chances were "just as good an opportunity" as Gabbert, Henne or Scott's chances, according to Paul Kuharsky.
Usually "wide open" quarterback competitions are weighted in some way, whether by design, bias or accident, but this is a case where the situation seems truly open. The Jaguars will be hoping that Gabbert can separate himself from the rest of the field, but considering his first two seasons in the league, the Jaguars won't be giving him the benefit of the doubt he's had since entering the league.
The Jaguars won't likely find their franchise quarterback in their current stock, but they're moving forward by ensuring they'll be playing the best of the bunch on Sundays, regardless of who that turns out to be.
