Garrard Out, Gabbert In For Jags’ Preseason Opener

Added on Aug 09, 2011 by Jack Thurman in

NFL

Preseason play hasn’t even started yet and the Jacksonville Jaguars already have issues with underachieving quarterback David Garrard. Garrard has some vague injury and has been ruled out of Thursday’s opening preseason game against New England. Rookie quarterback Blaine Gabbert out of Missouri will get the nod with Luke McCown and veteran Todd Bouman also available.

Bouman has been the Jags’ ‘go to’ guy whenever they need a veteran quarterback to shore up depth at the position. Last year, Bouman was on a tractor helping his father on the family farm in Minnesota when the Jags’ gave him the call. Jacksonville head coach Jack Del Rio eluded to that episode earlier this week:

“We actually made a call to the tractor again and Todd will be joining us this evening. Pulled him off the tractor once again. He’s a great guy and we think he’s a good veteran player. He’ll be able to come in and pick up and help us perform throughout the preseason and we’ll see from there.”

Garrard ‘tweaked his back’ in practice last Thursday and hasn’t done anything since. For his part, Gabbert is excited about the opportunity to start:

“It’s going to be fun. Those reps are going to be extremely valuable, on film after the game just to see what was going on. That will be the first live game I’ve been in in this league, so it will be fun. There are going to be mistakes made, but we’ve just got to learn from those and correct them the next week.”

Del Rio said that the starters will work only a series or two:

“I’m not really as interested in this first preseason game with them as much as I am getting an opportunity to evaluate the rest of the roster.”

Jacksonville has high hopes for Gabbert–they traded up in the draft to get him and like his confidence, toughness–and strong arm. He’s trying to assimilate the differences between the NFL and college game:

“The 1s speed is different. You’re going against starting NFL players, so you’ve just got to be on top of your game, know the protections, know the concepts and know where to get the ball out if they do blitz.”

Although Garrard is the starter for now a strong preseason showing by Gabbert could create something of a ‘quarterback controversy’ in Jacksonville.