Jaguars deny telling HC candidates that Bortles had to be starter

The Jacksonville Jaguars signaled they still believed in Blake Bortles' long-term potential despite a poor 2016 season when they exercised his fifth-year option in May.

And the Jaguars' confidence in Bortles may date back even further, at least to when they were choosing their next head coach in January.

Jacksonville allegedly gave head-coaching candidates a mandate that Bortles was the team's starting quarterback, Jaguars beat writer Ryan O'Halloran of the Florida Times-Union told Ross Tucker" of SiriusXM NFL Radio.

The Jaguars quickly denied the report Thursday.

"This is inaccurate," tweeted Tad Dickman, the Jaguars' senior manager of PR.

Jacksonville didn't bring in any genuine competition for Bortles over the offseason. The Jaguars re-signed journeyman Chad Henne and selected Brandon Allen in the sixth round of the draft, but didn't pursue any free-agent quarterbacks.

That decision was questioned at the time, and just three months later, the Jaguars have decided to start Henne over Bortles in the third preseason game Thursday.

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