Back in the 2017-18 season, quarterback Blake Bortles nearly led the Jacksonville Jaguars to the Super Bowl. The Jaguars led the eventual runner-up New England Patriots, 20-10, with 14 minutes left in the AFC Championship game. But Tom Brady just could not be stopped, leading two touchdown drives to seal the Patriots' 24-20 comeback victory.
Brady is still going strong these days with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. On the other hand, only four and a half years after an improbable Cinderella run, Blake Bortles has announced his retirement from professional football.
Bortles announced his decision to hang up the cleats during an appearance on the “Pardon My Take” podcast. And the man with the funny yet apt B.O.A.T nickname continued his trademark deadpan humor by announcing his retirement with such nonchalance.
“I quietly, I didn't tell anybody… I retired,” Bortles said, eliciting laughs from podcast hosts Dan “Big Cat” Katz and Eric Sollenberger. “I guess you guys are the first to hear it publicly, maybe.”
Despite not appearing in the NFL since his last season with the Los Angeles Rams during the 2019-20 campaign, Blake Bortles still appears to be a bit of a cult hero who's endeared himself to NFL fans with his inscrutable brand of comedy.
No one can ever forget Bortles' interview with Barstool Sports, when he said that the first thing he does after he wakes up is to “piss”. And of course, it is ingrained in everyone's minds that Bortles said he would have been a construction worker had he not been a professional quarterback.
Fans showered Bortles with so much love, it's become easy to forget that Bortles had become especially tough to watch on the field with one dismal performance after another at the end of his career.
And for all the ups and downs of Blake Bortles' career, he will always have his 2018 postseason run to look back on. Even if his career didn't quite pan out the way he hoped it would, going toe-to-toe with Tom Brady as the underdog will forever live in the hearts of Jaguars fans who will be eternally grateful to Bortles for giving them one of the most memorable playoff runs of all time.
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