Between wrist surgery Marcus Martin Jersey , signing a $54 million contract and nearly getting robbed, Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Blake Bortles had quite the start to the offseason.

His next phase probably won't create as much buzz, but it's much more important to the team's success in 2018.

Bortles opened organized team activities Tuesday behind a revamped offensive line and with three new passing targets 鈥?all part of a plan to improve an offense that featured the league's top rushing attack last season.

"I have always believed that when your quarterback is ahead of everyone, and the rest of the offense has to catch up, that is a pretty good thing," coach Doug Marrone said. "You don't want the quarterback trying to catch up to the rest of the offensive players. I think that Blake is in a good spot as far as what he knows of the offense, what we want to do. It's just another year.

"I think that's why you see those quarterbacks that stay in these systems for a long period of time and play for a long period of time that do such a good job."

Bortles threw for 3,687 yards, with 21 touchdowns and a career-low 13 interceptions in 2017. He was at his best in the postseason, throwing for 594 yards and three scores without a turnover.

Interceptions and fumbles were among Bortles' biggest faults during his first three years in the league. He limited them down the stretch last season and eliminated them in the playoffs, helping the Jaguars reach the AFC championship game.

"You want to have that every game," said Bortles Gale Sayers Jersey , who had surgery to repair a partially torn ligament in his right wrist in late January. "Just wanting to make sure that no matter what I did I gave us a chance to win. I knew that if I didn't turn the ball over we're going to have a chance to win every game. That should be and it is my mindset every single game we play. I think it was only heightened in the playoffs to make sure I wasn't the reason we couldn't win the game."

The Jaguars rewarded Bortles with a three-year contract that included $26.5 million guaranteed, making him the team's starter for at least the next two seasons.

"The contract stuff doesn't really change anything about how I think or how I approach every day," he said.

The biggest difference, he said, is having continuity. The Jaguars returned their entire coaching staff, giving Bortles and offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett a solid foundation to start from during OTAs.

"We talked about it this morning: Kind of taking it to the next level," said Bortles, who didn't have the freedom to audible early last season. "He kind of gave me the green light to go ahead ... as far as what you're doing versus all the different looks and not just running the play called, (but) getting yourself in the best play possible."

Bortles will have a much different supporting cast to work with in 2018.

Donte Moncrief and rookie DJ Chark replaced receivers Allen Robinson and Allen Hurns, and tight end Austin Seferian-Jenkins stepped in for longtime starter Marcedes Lewis.

Moncrief and Chark are expected to bring more speed to Jacksonville's offense, which coaches are counting on to help loosen up defenses and create more room for bruising running back Leonard Fournette. The addition of All-Pro guard Andrew Norwell should help, too.

Bortles will use the next few months to build a rapport with those newcomers. If it includes any dinners Dominique Easley Jersey , Bortles probably will be sure to lock his truck.

Bortles had his wallet stolen and pickup truck nearly hijacked earlier this month from teammate Brandon Linder's driveway during an offensive line dinner. An 18-year-old Jacksonville man was arrested and charged with auto theft, auto burglary and trespassing.

Bortles left his keys inside his unlocked truck, but other vehicles parked around it prevented the man from driving away.

"He checked my truck out a little bit and left it nice and clean for me," joked Bortles, who has since teamed up with local police to help prevent automobile burglaries. "It was all right. ... Glad to be back playing football, running around. It feels good to kind of be back to some familiarity."

Doctors told Adrian Clayborn not to play football.

His mother decided it was safer than letting him hang out on the streets.

The free agent defensive end, who signed with the defending AFC champion New England Patriots last week, developed a condition called Erb's palsy when the nerves in his neck were stretched during childbirth. The damage affects the right side of his body 鈥?his neck, his bicep and his trapezius muscle 鈥?and forces him to work out differently, but doesn't change his play, he said.

"I've learned to compensate when I have to," Clayborn said in a conference call on Wednesday. "And I do what I've got to do to make the plays."

Clayborn Deacon Jones Jersey , 29, wrote on The Players' Tribune that because of the condition doctors told his mother not to let him play football. But she relented after his older brother was shot and killed.

He also spent most of two seasons on injured reserve, with a popped bicep in the NFC championship game after the 2016 season that had him contemplating retirement.

Instead, he pushed forward.

"Life happens," Clayborn told reporters. "I mean, through the Erb's Palsy or losing my dad and my brother 鈥?it just made me the person I am today. Just got to take the blows when they come and throw a couple back at times. So, just learn how to fight and scrap and learn how to keep going."

A seven-year veteran who played the past three seasons with Atlanta, Clayborn is coming off a career-high 9陆 sacks in 2017. Although he played mostly on third down and other pass-rushing situations with the Falcons, he said he could take on a bigger role if the Patriots ask him to.

"That's what people have pigeonholed me in as a third-down player, but I know I can play first, second, third down if need be Nevin Lawson Jersey ," he said. "That was my role in Atlanta because that's what they asked me to do, but I mean, I can play all three downs if you ask me."

Although he was on the 2016 Falcons team, he was injured early in the conference title game and missed the Super Bowl, when New England rallied from a 25-point, second-half deficit.

"It was tough to watch, being hurt," Clayborn said. "I don't know if I could have made an impact. I would hope so. I mean, that's my job to do every game, so I would hope I would have been able to make an impact in that game and possibly a different outcome."

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