Blake Bortles was bad as a rookie. Really bad. Historically bad.
In 2014, Bortles completed 58.9% of his passes, averaged 6.12 yards per pass attempt, threw only 11 touchdowns to his 17 interceptions, and had a league-worst 25.2 QBR according to ESPN. While QBR might ultimately be a stupid statistic, it was representative of just how bad Bortles was statistically.
With those numbers in mind, it’s not shocking that Bortles is amongst the most improved players in 2015 after setting multiple franchise records. Sam Monson listed him in the top 10 improved players of this past season:
Blake Bortles, QB, Jacksonville Jaguars
The only quarterback ranked lower than Derek Carr as a rookie was Bortles, who notched the worst single-season cumulative grade PFF has ever seen in a first-year starter.