Jaguars Sign Ryan Nassib, Again Choosing a Familiar and Bad Quarterback

Ryan Nassib is back in the NFL. The former Syracuse quarterback has been signed by the Jacksonville Jaguars to back up current-day NFL quarterbacks Blake Bortles and Chad Henne. Why was Nassib signed instead of some much better player with an actual professional resume? Because of his football acumen? No, because of familiarity.

There was a time when Nassib played college football under Doug Marrone. The duo went 21-17 in the three seasons Nassib was the starting quarterback at Syracuse and set all sorts of Syracuse offensive records (how impressive!). The two had so much collegiate success together that people thought Marrone might draft Nassib in the 1st or 2nd round when he became head coach of the Buffalo Bills. Instead the Bills took E.J. Manuel and passed on Nassib five total times before the Giants took him with the 110th pick in the 2012 NFL Draft. Manuel spent four unimpressive seasons in Buffalo.

After “falling” to the Giants, Nassib started getting familiar with Tom Coughlin and his clock quirks. Nassib attempted 10 total passes under Coughlin while backing up Eli Manning. Then he signed with the Saints, but was unable to beat out Chase Daniel for a job and was released so the Saints could sign 27-year old rookie Taysom Hill who had spent the entire preseason with the Green Bay Packers. No word on who Hill was familiar with in the New Orleans organization.

So the Jaguars have gone with the bad and familiar at quarterback. Like so many before them. Of course, choosing a familiar bad quarterback is a common theme for a franchise that has been trotting Blake Bortles out there for four seasons now.