Releasing David Garrard a mistake in hindsight

After two weeks and a 1-1 start, the Jacksonville Jaguars have made a second change to their starting quarterback in as many weeks.

Following four interceptions with a quarterback rating of 1.8, Luke McCown has been benched for rookie Blaine Gabbert.

Entering the season, the Jaguars were ruled out by most as a legitimate playoff contender, with weaknesses at wide receiver not addressed in the off-season as well as being the 28th ranked defence in 2010.

But everything that could, for teams in the AFC South, has gone wrong for them.

Being lined up against Houston, Indianapolis and Tennessee, most predicted Houston to win the division and Indianapolis to claim a wildcard.

Instead, Peyton Manning’s return to football is undetermined and Houston All-Pro running back Arian Foster’s hamstring injury has kept him to a limited workload.

With the signing of veteran quarterback Matt Hasselbeck in Tennessee to mentor Jake Locker, the Titans do not look like bottoming out and will not be easy wins for division rivals.

This leaves us with Jacksonville who will be playing their third starting quarterback in what appears to be a knee jerk reaction.

Selected with the 10th overall selection in the 2011 NFL Draft, Gabbert impressed, coming off the bench in week 2, despite the game already lost and with no chance of resurgence.

With Indianapolis out of the running, the decision to release David Garrard may have cost the team a wildcard opportunity, after Garrard took the team 8-8 last season.

Relying on a rookie and a player who has started three games over the last three seasons at the quarterback position, the $8.7m salary to keep Garrard on the roster may have been a worthy investment.

What makes Garrard’s release most questionable is that the Jaguars had the fourth-most space in their salary cap across the league with $28 million remaining, when figures were updated on August 29. Garrard was released on September 6, meaning Jacksonville now have around $35m, the most in the league.

In hindsight however, Garrard’s axing was foreseeable.

Jacksonville needed another year or two to develop their defence and in that time, Houston and Indianapolis were playoff-bound before the Jags.

Surprising almost all, Jacksonville’s decision to trade up to the 10th overall selection to draft Gabbert appeared unnecessary with other positions needing to be addressed.

Gabbert now joins 2011 draftees, Andy Dalton and Cam Newton, as starting quarterback for their respective teams. Based on the success of the pair, the reduced preseason has seen them flourish by running simple playbooks.

Sunday will be the first rookie quarterback clash with Gabbert to start against a Newton-led Carolina.

The idea becoming a playoff chance coinciding with the demise of a Manning-less Indianapolis is a view shared by head coach Jack Del Rio.

After an impressive performance from McCown in week one, four interceptions was enough for Del Rio to know McCown was not the playoff quarterback he needed.

It was clear to most Jaguars fans that McCown was not going to hold the job for long, with Gabbert on the bench and the increased leniency given to rookie quarterbacks. Nonetheless, Jacksonville did the right thing for McCown by giving him a starting opportunity.

If the Gabbert experiment does not work though, there are very limited quarterbacks remaining on the free agency market.

Any recruit would only be used to avoid battering a rookie’s confidence. Patrick Ramsey leads the thin pool of talent with Chris Simms, Brodie Croyle and Jamarcus Russell also free agents.

Holding a career QB rating of 85.8, throwing 89 touchdowns and 54 interceptions, Garrard, at the age of 33, still had a few years in him.

Ignoring the Colts, Jacksonville has five 2010 playoff teams on their schedule and suddenly Garrard’s 8-8 season looks capable of another win or two and a wildcard berth.