Blake Bortles to be granted release by Saints to seek better backup opportunity

The New Orleans Saints seemingly committed to 2015 first-overall draft pick Jameis Winston as their starting quarterback when they re-signed him via a two-year deal last month. Winston's status for Week 1 this coming September remains in question, though, as he continues his recovery from the torn ACL and damage to his MCL suffered on Halloween, and the Saints recently signed veteran Andy Dalton as cover just in case Winston is sidelined early into the 2022 season. 

That second decision caused a different former first-round draft choice to ask for and receive his release from the Saints. 

Per Adam Schefter of ESPN, 2014 first-round draft pick Blake Bortles requested and will be given his release from the Saints on the first Tuesday of April. Schefter added that Bortles fell down the depth chart after New Orleans acquired Dalton and noted the 29-year-old wants "a better opportunity to be a No. 2 quarterback elsewhere."

Bortles, who spent his first five NFL seasons with the Jacksonville Jaguars after they drafted him third overall in 2014, completed multiple forgettable stints with the Green Bay Packers last year and then joined the Saints in December when Taysom Hill and Trevor Siemian were on the reserve/COVID-19 list. He hasn't played in a meaningful game since the 2019 campaign with the Los Angeles Rams, and Myles Simmons of Pro Football Talk wrote that the signal-caller had signed a futures contract with the Saints in January. 

For his pro career, Bortles has completed 59.3% of his passes and thrown for 103 touchdowns and 75 interceptions in 78 regular-season contests and 73 starts.