Report: Blake Bortles’s Request to be Released From Saints Granted

He just signed with New Orleans in December but is now reportedly looking for a new team.

Blake Bortles has requested that the Saints release him, and the team will do just that, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter. His decision comes in the wake of New Orleans’s signing Andy Dalton. Now, the 29-year-old will enter the free-agency market to look for an opportunity as a second-string signal-caller elsewhere. 

Blake Bortles asked for and will receive his release from the Saints today after their signing of Andy Dalton, per league source. At the age of 29, with 73 starts and 103 TD passes on his resume, Bortles is looking for a better opportunity to be a No. 2 quarterback elsewhere.

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) April 5, 2022

Bortles signed with the Saints in December but the team’s recent moves have clouded his position on the bench. Bortles, Dalton, Ian Book and Jameis Winston are all signed to New Orleans. Not to mention, utility player Taysom Hill is still with the squad—although coach Dennis Allen did say the team will use him specifically as a tight end in 2022. 

The journeyman quarterback will now be looking to join his sixth NFL team after signing deals with the Jaguars, Rams, Broncos, Packers and Saints in the past. He hasn’t appeared in regular season game since 2019, however, while with the Rams. 

He was last a starting quarterback in 2018 with Jacksonville, the team that drafted him with the No. 3 pick in the 2014 draft, but those days are long behind him. 

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