Rams Ex QB Blake Bortles 'Quietly' Retires from NFL
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Former Los Angeles Rams quarterback Blake Bortles revealed on a Barstool Sports podcast that he has retired from the NFL at the age of 30. Bortles, professionally best known for his time at the offensive helm of the Jacksonville Jaguars, spent two separate stints as a Rams backup in 2019 and 2020.
"I have not touched a football since January. I quietly, I didn’t tell anybody, I retired. I guess you guys are kind of the first to hear it publicly," Bortles said on "Pardon My Take," perhaps humorously burning any NFL bridge he had left by declaring, "If somebody were dumb enough to offer that kind of money, then it’s kind of hard to pass on."
Bortles served as Jared Goff's backup during the 2019 season and later showed up on the practice squad the following season when Goff suffered an injury prior to the postseason. The Central Florida alum threw two regular season passes in a Rams uniform, both coming in the final stages of a blowout win over Arizona. They proved to be the final throws of his NFL career.
“When you’re kind of in the phase that we are, we do want to continue winning and having a quarterback who’s been there, done that,” general manager Les Snead said of the Bortles signing, coming shortly after the Rams' appearance in Super Bowl LIII, to the Los Angeles Times. “(He) definitely helps if you ever have to go to the bullpen.
Prior to the 2019 season, Bortles posted an 88.5 passer rating in preseason play, finding JoJo Natson for a score in a neutral site loss to Dallas in Honolulu. Bortles was preciously a star at UCF, headlining the Knights' run to an undefeated record in 2017.
Though Bortles never lived up to his first-round billing, chosen by Jacksonville with the third overall pick in 2014, he became a cult hero of sorts for partly guiding the Jaguars upon an improbable path to the AFC title game at the end of the 2017-18 season. Bortles also holds several aerial records in Duval County, including most single-season touchdown passes (35) and yardage (4,428), both earned in 2016.
The modern Rams (2-2) face off against the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday afternoon at SoFi Stadium (1:25 p.m. ET, Fox).
Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffJMags
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