National Football League

Gabbert's 1st day with Jaguars goes smoothly

Published Apr. 30, 2011 2:08 a.m. ET

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Blaine Gabbert held up his No. 11 jersey, posed for pictures, then said all the right things during his first day with the Jacksonville Jaguars.

If he shows as much poise in the pocket, the Jaguars will have their franchise quarterback.

Jacksonville traded up six spots to select the former Missouri star with the 10th pick in the first round of the NFL draft Thursday night. Gabbert took a private jet to Jacksonville on Friday, met with team owner Wayne Weaver, general manager Gene Smith and coach Jack Del Rio, went through the playbook, then held his introductory news conference.

Gabbert can only hope the rest of his tenure goes as smoothly.

''The biggest thing for any rookie player is you've got to come in and earn your spot on this football team,'' Gabbert said. ''You've got to come in and put your time in the weight room, the film room and earn the trust of the other players. You can't come in being the vocal leader because you're not credible at that point in time. You've got to put in your work before people start to trust you.''

Although the Jaguars insisted David Garrard remains the starter, they also said Gabbert will get a chance to compete for the spot this fall.

Gabbert threw 40 touchdown passes and 18 interceptions as a two-year starter at Missouri. But his success came in the spread offense and mostly from a deep shotgun formation, so making the transition to Jacksonville's prostyle offense will be his toughest challenge.

''The biggest change is going to be the footwork, and that's a physical thing that anybody's got to adjust to,'' Gabbert said. ''But from a passing concept-wise, I threw the ball 500 times a year, and I was asked to make critical decisions on every play, responsible decisions. I couldn't throw interceptions, and that's definitely going to carry over into this league.''

Gabbert was equally deft handling questions about competing with Garrard, knowing fans will be clamoring for him to take over after watching Garrard fail to get the Jaguars to the playoffs in three of his four seasons as the team's starter.

''It's going to work itself out, and I'm just happy for this opportunity to come in here and learn. Any quarterback hopes to be in this opportunity to have two veterans above them that are going to teach a young quarterback the ropes. And we're all going to go out there and compete and have fun at the same time.''

Jacksonville seemed content to wait for its turn at No. 16, but when Gabbert was still available after San Francisco and Tennessee selected, Smith started making trade calls. Washington agreed, giving up the No. 10 spot for Jacksonville's first- and second-round picks, Nos. 16 and 49, respectively.

''Hopefully he's the next Peyton Manning. Who knows?'' Jaguars offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter said. ''He's got the skill set to be a successful, top-tier quarterback. He's mobile, he's got the size, he's got the mechanics, he's smart, he's articulate, excellent scrambler. The only knock on this guy, from where I sit, and it's not a knock, is that he's going to have to transition from a spread offense to a pro offense.''

Other knocks include his accuracy, especially on deep balls, and his pocket presence under pressure. The Jaguars downplayed the negatives, saying most quarterbacks struggle in those areas.

Ideally, the Jaguars would like to give Gabbert a year to learn the offense and then take over for Garrard. But since Weaver has made it clear that Del Rio has to make the playoffs to keep his job, there could be a quick switch if things don't go well early in the season.

Gabbert declined to speculate on his chances, but acknowledged feeling some pressure that comes with being labeled a franchise quarterback.

''There is going to be pressure in any situation you come into,'' Gabbert said. ''If you're a first-round draft pick in the NFL, there is always pressure associated with that. A lot of it is we put pressure on ourselves to succeed. We put ourselves in this situation because we want to, we've worked hard at it, played decent football in college and now we're here.

''We all want to perform at the highest level possible and win a bunch of football games in the NFL.''

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