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Blake Bortles' rookie struggles explained in part by 'dead arm' injury

Blake Bortles' rookie struggles explained in part by 'dead arm' injury

Blake Bortles played great in preseason games in August, then not so great late in the season long after he became the Jacksonville Jaguars' starting quarterback.

There are plenty of reasons, but apparently one that he was dealing with a "dead arm."

General manager Dave Caldwell told USA Today's Tom Pelissero about Bortles' dead arm issue, which makes it seem like Bortles was a starting pitcher in spring training. It's not an injury you hear about too often in football, though it happens. Bortles had shoulder inflammation, but it didn't require surgery. It did require Bortles to change his mechanics just to get velocity on the ball, Caldwell said.

"You've just got to do what you've got to do to survive," Caldwell said. "It wasn't anything that was ingrained in him [mechanically]. He knew he was doing it. But in order to drive the ball 15 yards, there were some things that he needed to do to get the velocity on the ball."

Bortles landed on the injury report in early December for what local media said was a right shoulder sprain.

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Bortles' mechanics have been discussed a lot in the offseason. He frequently dropped the ball too low on his release (something pointed out by NFL Films' Greg Cosell here in February). The poor mechanics and/or shoulder issues were reasons Bortles had a 62.8 rating in December and his yards per attempt dipped way down to 4.8 that month. A bad offensive line, little running game and throwing to mostly rookies at receiver were other issues. Bortles finished with 11 touchdowns and 17 interceptions.

Bortles might have had a dead arm by December, but that doesn't explain all the mechanical issues. Bortles often dropped the ball too low when he threw even early in the season; this is from an interception to San Diego Chargers safety Eric Weddle in Week 4, on Sept. 28:

(NFL.com screen shot)
(NFL.com screen shot)

It's fair to wonder why the Jaguars kept starting Bortles even though they knew he had shoulder issues that were negatively affecting his mechanics, causing bad habits for their potential franchise quarterback that aren't always easy to correct. Jacksonville was 3-13 last season; there wasn't a lot to play for in December. But the good news is that Bortles feels good and reworked his mechanics, USA Today said. He went to visit quarterbacks coach Tom House in California for a week and that stay turned into a two-month visit.

The Jaguars clearly are still excited about Bortles, last year's third overall pick, as they should be. Being able to throw without a cranky shoulder won't hurt Bortles' progress in year two.

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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdown.corner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!