The Jaguars released veteran QB David Garrard, leaving them with Luke McCown as their starter and Blaine Gabbert as the backup, just 5 days before the season opener.
The Jags claimed that the move was strictly a football decision, with head coach Jack Del Rio announcing at a press conference, “We’re going in as strong as we can with the best guy playing.”
Del Rio went on to add that Garrard “just wasn’t able to get it going this preseason. He even admitted that when we talked today.”
While Garrard’s preseason numbers were far from impressive, with him completing just 50 percent of his passes for a QB efficiency rating of 56.5, it does appear that the move was at least partially motivated by his $8 million salary for this year.
Garrard has been with the team for 10 years now, and last year he started 14 games and completed 64.5 percent of his passes for 23 TDs and 15 INTs, giving him a very respectable QB efficiency rating of 90.8.
McCown was more impressive in this year’s preseason, but he only threw 18 passes in two games. His last regular season start was in 2007, when he started three games for the Buccaneers and threw 5 TDs and 3 INTs.
Gabbert is clearly the man who the Jags are banking on as their quarterback of the future, but based on this preseason, he doesn’t appear to be ready (not surprising for a rookie QB with a lockout-shortened training camp to learn the offense).
Cutting Garrard removes the most experienced QB on the roster, setting the Jags up for a difficult season as they adjust to McCown as the starter, and try to get Gabbert ready as soon as possible. Expect to see Gabbert starting in this offense before the season is over.
