All good things must come to an end. That's why former Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Blake Bortles announced his retirement.
This shouldn't come as a surprise though. This has been a while in the making, as BOAT hasn't played a regular season game since 2019.
Bortles announced he was hanging up the cleats during an appearance on the Pardon My Tech podcast. "I haven't touched a football since January," Bortles said, via NFL Media. "I'm officially retired."
The former UCF Knight was the third overall pick in the 2014 NFL Draft and caught national media attention in 2015, when he completed 58.6 percent of his passes for 4,428 with 35 touchdowns and 18 interceptions.
While these numbers come off the stat sheet, a closer look shows that the production was garbage time.
Bortles got the spotlight again after the 2017 season. That year, the Jags went 10-6 thanks to their stout defense and despite Bortles. Still, the front office rewarded the quarterback with a three-year contract worth $54 million.
It didn't take long for the Jaguars brass to realize their mistake and pulled the plug on him exactly one year later.
After his release, Bortles' career became somewhat nomadic, spending time with the Rams, Green Bay Packers and New Orleans Saints.
In fact, if he hadn't announced his retirement, you wouldn't see the media talking about him, given how remarkable his career has become in recent years.