JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The Jacksonville Jaguars benched quarterback Blake Bortles in the third quarter of Sunday’s game against Houston after he committed his second fumble of the day.
Cody Kessler, acquired from Cleveland for a conditional seventh-round pick in March, replaced Bortles in the lineup for his first game action Nov. 26, 2017.
Bortles had completed 6-of-12 passes for 61 yards against the Texans. His first fumble came on a scramble on third offensive play of the game. The Texans turned that into a field goal for a 3-0 lead. Bortles fumbled on the third play of the second half and the Texans recovered and scored on a 10-yard pass from Deshaun Watson to DeAndre Hopkins two plays later for a 20-0 lead.
Bortles, the third overall pick in 2014, had started 67 consecutive games for the Jaguars since he took over for Chad Henne in the second half of Week 3 during his rookie season.
The Jaguars benched Bortles for Week 3 of the 2017 preseason but he won the job back and went on to have the best season of his career: 21 touchdowns and 13 interceptions. The team signed him to a three-year contract extension in the offseason worth $54 million that includes $26.5 million in guaranteed money.
Bortles has a $21 million cap hit in 2019 and counts $16.5 million in dead money if the team were to cut him after the 2018 season.