As Blake Bortles flames out, Raiders and Patriots get last laughs of 2014 QB draft

The second round of the 2014 NFL Draft was gold for quarterbacks. The first round has turned to stone.

Blake Bortles, who went No. 3 overall to the Jaguars, had been the great hope after Johnny Manziel failed and Teddy Bridgewater fell. But thanks to a disastrous training camp and an even worse preseason so far, Bortles has forced Jacksonville's hand to find a different starting QB, stat.

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For now, that's backup Chad Henne, back in the competition. But another rumored solution to the situation is, ironically, a QB taken in the 2014 fifth round by another feline football team, the Bengals' AJ McCarron.

McCarron's inexplicable trade buzz aside, the situation now leaves the two quarterbacks taken in Round 2 — Derek Carr (No. 36 overall) and Jimmy Garoppolo (No. 62 overall) — as the lone legitimate standouts in the class.

So the Raiders already have locked up their franchise QB, and the Patriots look like they're going to keep their franchise QB of the near future.

Meanwhile, the Jaguars are joining the Browns (DeShone Kizer) and Vikings (Sam Bradord) in scrambling for a quick reboot. The Texans took "starter" Tom Savage in that 2014 fourth round, but they are on the verge of burying that flyer with Deshaun Watson.

The Raiders resisted reaching for Manziel or Bridgewater at No. 5 after Bortles was off the board, and it paid off ... twice. It's clear now that Khalil Mack at worst should have been the third overall selection in that class — behind Carr and Aaron Donald — and Oakland got Mack after Jacksonville passed on him two picks earlier.

The Patriots surprised many by taking Garoppolo that high out of Eastern Illinois, but their foresight, even with Tom Brady going strong at 40, looks amazing vs. the QB have-nots. Consider Garoppolo was taken right after the Jaguars selected wide receiver Allen Robinson to help Bortles. So yes, in an alternate universe, the Jaguars would have Jimmy G throwing to Mike Evans (No. 7 overall in 2014) now.

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It was unfortunate for the teams that felt the pressure to nail an early-round QB in either 2013 or '14, more of a dead zone between the Andrew Luck and Jameis Winston-led classes. The Jaguars fell into that because of how quickly Blaine Gabbert busted as the No. 10 overall pick in 2011. The Browns had been burned back-to-back with No. 22 QB picks, Brady Quinn in 2007 and Brandon Weeden in 2012. The Vikings had Christian Ponder crash as the No. 12 overall pick in 2011.

Timing often is everything when it comes to landing the right QB. The Raiders went veteran stopgap post JaMarcus Russell and somehow stayed patient enough to steal Carr. The Patriots set their own timetable with their Garoppolo selection.

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While Carr pushes his team to greater things and Garoppolo is groomed as a great successor, Bortles is headed toward being an ex-Jaguar with lesser NFL starting prospects than the knee-rehabbing Bridgewater.

For everyone else who drafted a QB in 2014, the grades are rough or severely incomplete. The Raiders and Patriots just got a reminder of how much they aced it.