Rourke runs into realities of NFL backup job

There is simply no doubt that Nathan Rourke outplayed veteran C.J. Beathard during three preseason games at quarterback with the Jacksonville Jaguars.

None.

Yet it is Beathard who has earned the No. 2 job behind rising star and franchise quarterback Trevor Lawrence, just as it always figured to be.

All that Rourke’s release Monday proves is that he had virtually no shot of making the Jacksonville roster out of camp.

He was consistent throughout the preseason, engineering two touchdown drives in five opportunities during each of his first two preseason games and a one from two opportunities in the third. That’s five touchdowns in 12 drives, but two of those drives ended in victory formation and another ended with a fumble by a running back. So, in terms of actual opportunities to get his team into the end zone, Rourke was five of nine.

Yes, he was playing mostly against third-stringers. But he was also playing with third-stringers, meaning his receivers and blockers were also a notch below the talent an NFL quarterback usually enjoys.

Besides, so many of the things Rourke displayed ­- his poise, toughness, accuracy with the football, and superb decision making - were not a function of the players around him.

The fact that his four-broken-tackle touchdown throw against the Cowboys was by far the top highlight of the preseason was just the cherry on top.

So why was he released?

To understand it, you have to accept that Rourke was never auditioning for the No. 2 job. And to believe that you only have to have listened to Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson when I asked whether there was a competition for the No. 2 job, following the second preseason game in Detroit.

“No,” he said. “C.J. is our backup.”

The NFL is allowing teams to carry three quarterbacks on the active roster if they want to this season. But many, preferring to add an extra body for depth elsewhere on the field, will try and stash that player on the practice roster. Players with less than four years of experience must clear waivers before that can happen, which is where Rourke now finds himself. The deadline for teams to submit waiver claims is Wednesday at noon.

But being a backup quarterback in the NFL isn’t just about being second-best player at the position on the roster. A backup must also must fill a role of being dedicated to helping the starter prepare, to be his sounding board and his friend.

Today’s NFL is all about rosters constructed to give young star quarterbacks every chance of being successful. The Jags have as much riding on the 23-year-old Lawrence as any team does on any player in the league.

The job of the backup in Jacksonville is to help Lawrence be the best version of himself, to mentor and help groom him, on and off the field. It is not to compete with him for the No. 1 job.

Beathard is a guy with five NFL seasons behind him and 12 starts on his resume. With a career completion percentage less than 60 per cent and 14 career interceptions to go with 18 touchdowns, he no doubt knows a good situation when he sees it. By all accounts, he has the right makeup for the backup role, which is about understanding what you are and what you aren’t.

And make no mistake, some guys are wired to be backups and some are not.

CFL quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell encountered this reality after the 2018 season when he turned down three contract offers from NFL teams once he found out teams saw him in the role of helping a starting quarterback prepare, not in competing for the job one day.

Many quarterbacks have struggled in the backup role, such as Doug Flutie when he returned from Canada and found himself backing up Rob Johnson for a time in Buffalo.

Flutie wasn’t wired to be a backup, which could be an issue for Chad Kelly’s possible return to the NFL beyond this year with the Toronto Argonauts. Kelly isn’t going to the NFL as a No. 1, but does he have the resume and makeup of an NFL backup? The answers would be no and probably not. And at age 30 next season, Kelly may not fit a No. 3 role either.  

Rourke is a hungry 25-year-old kid who’s been successful every step of the way, from Canadian high school through three levels of U.S. football and in the CFL. Everywhere he’s been, he’s been the guy from the outset or after a very brief apprenticeship.

His goal is to start some day in the NFL, and he may very well have the talent to make it. But his biggest challenge is that he lacks the resume and makeup NFL teams so often desire in a backup.

Rourke’s best-case scenario is to be claimed off waivers by a team that opts to put three quarterbacks on its roster instead of two.

The Jaguars opted for two and it may have cost them Rourke. Not that anyone standing in the shadow of Lawrence will miss him.