Jake Luton to Become Doug Marrone's 10th Starting QB; What History Tells Us About the Change
Doug Marrone is in his seventh season as a head coach in the NFL…and he’s about to start his 10th different quarterback.
“Unfortunately I’ve been through this quite a bit.”
Marrone’s comment to local Jacksonville Jaguars (1-6) reporters on Wednesday is definitely an understatement. But with a perpetual optimism, Marrone is looking at the current situation through the lens of experience, choosing to rely on past quarterback changes to help him navigate his team through this shakeup.
Second-year starting quarterback Gardner Minshew II will be inactive on Sunday after x-rays revealed he had suffered a torn ligament and sprains in the thumb on his throwing hand. The injuries persisted for two weeks before the passer informed the club of the injury, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter.
While Minshew recovers, the Jags will turn to a sixth-round rookie out of the Pac-12 (yes, again) Jake Luton. The former Oregon State QB was effectively named the backup quarterback following the offseason when the Jaguars released veteran Mike Glennon. However, Glennon was re-signed after he went unclaimed on waivers and it is Glennon that has been in uniform each week while Luton was labeled inactive.
On Sunday though, in their second bout with the Houston Texans for the season, the Jaguars will trot out Luton. The rookie passer's debut will mark the fifth quarterback Marrone has started with the Jaguars in four years.
When Marrone arrived in Jacksonville in 2015, it was as the assistant head coach and offensive line coach. In 2016, he was tapped as the interim head coach at the end of the season, and the interim title was removed following the season as Marrone led the Jaguars to the AFC Championship in 2017. Both of those seasons, the Jags were led in each regular season game by Blake Bortles.
In 2018, the Jags were led by Bortles in 12 games and Cody Kessler got the start in four games. Infamously in 2019, the club played musical quarterbacks with Minshew (12) and Nick Foles (4), who traded off games before Minshew became the entrenched starter at the end of the year.
None of this is as convoluted though as the 2013 season for the Buffalo Bills, when Marrone and staff started three different passers through the 16 games: E.J. Manuel (10-injury), Thaddeus Lewis (5-replaced by Jeff Tuel and then a recovered Manuel; returned as a starter for the last game) and Jeff Tuel (1-benched…then claimed off waivers by the Jaguars).
The 2014 season wasn’t much better when Manuel started four games before being benched for veteran Kyle Orton.
So, suffice to say, Doug Marrone is familiar with changing quarterbacks in the middle of a season.
Over that time, he’s noticed something about how teammates react when a quarterback change is made, for whatever reason the change may come.
“What you see is when you have a quarterback coming in, especially a young quarterback, you see everyone else around them try to make sure he’s successful and try to pick up their game a little bit as long as that quarterbacks is doing a good job. I think if they feel like that quarterback’s not doing a good job, then you’re not going to see that. I think we’ve all seen examples of that throughout the years.”
With his years of experience in this facet and as the head coach, Marrone elected to handle the news himself. He told the quarterback room what the decision would be for Sunday and answered their questions himself.
“I told them what my thought process was, and I just tell them the truth. The one good thing about all three of those guys is there’s probably disappointment, which is understandable, I recognize that, and they recognize that I have to make a decision and they respect that.
“So, I think we have three guys that are really professional and there’s really no problems in that room. Gardner [Minshew II]’s not practicing, he’s working to get back to being healthy. Mike [Glennon]’s ready to go in case anything happens, and I just told him the same thing I told you guys on Monday why I made the decision with Jake [Luton].”
Someone else who has experience with a quick quarterback shift is offensive coordinator Jay Gruden…and not in a way that inspires warm feelings for Jaguar fans. When Gruden was still the head coach for the Washington Football Team, he came to Jacksonville for a 2018 late season matchup against the Jaguars.
“In fact, we came down [to Jacksonville] and played with Josh Johnson. We got him on a Thursday, I think he played on Sunday, we ended up winning that game or something. Yeah, so we've had that opportunity. It's never fun.”
Johnson actually joined the team on a Wednesday and the following Sunday he came in for Mark Sanchez against the New York Giants. Johnson then started the following week versus the Jaguars. Regardless, the lessons remain the same for Gruden.
“You know, obviously, the teams with the great records are pretty stable at that position. And that's what you want to do and grow to. But the good thing is, if there's a positive, we get to look at a young quarterback with a lot of talent. And that's what we, in Jake. And the only way you're gonna see and find out is if you throw him out there, let him play. So let's let him play and see how he handles the adversity. See how he handles the negative plays as well as the positive plays and, and let's see him throw the ball.”
Part of a QB change, like Gruden mentioned, is just seeing how the new kid will do. He stepped into a huddle during Monday’s practice and called the Jaguars offensive plays for the first time.
Jay Gruden reveals Jake Luton has taken only one day of first-team snaps thus far. Mandatory Credit: Douglas DeFelice-USA TODAY Sports
“It was about 16 to 20 plays, was the first time he got a chance to call our plays in the huddle since training camp. So I was kind of excited to see that he didn't mess any of them up. You can tell he's a little nervous, a little excited, over excited. But that's natural. Now I'm hoping Wednesday, he's got a little bit of the plan right now hopefully calms down a little bit.
“Tomorrow [Thursday], we'll get him some third downs, Fridays, we'll get him some redzone. Saturday, we'll tie up the loose ends and let them go out there and play. But his demeanor has always been outstanding. He's been a very smart, very poised individual. How that happens, how that translates on game day will be the key to his success. Can he keep that poise in a game type situation with people coming out?”
Gruden’s experience with Johnson was successful. It resulted in a win that first start. Marrone’s have found less success, with Kyle Orton being the only quarterback to win their first game after being named the starter. Orton did go on to finish that 2014 season, giving the Bills their first winning record in a decade.
Now as the 10th starting quarterback for Marrone's career as an NFL head coach, Luton has an opportunity to become either the Cinderella story that can change a career or another name in a long line of unsuccessful projects.
