Jacksonville Jaguars fans will see a familiar face when the 2026 season opens at home against the Cleveland Browns, though Blake Bortles will not be wearing a helmet or calling plays.
The former quarterback has been chosen to deliver the First DUUUVAL, the pregame ritual that fires up the crowd with the team’s signature chant before kickoff.
The honor rotates among different figures for each home game, and the organization picked Bortles to start a year that carries higher expectations after last season’s 13-4 record and AFC South title.
The chant itself is rooted in local identity. Jacksonville plays in Duval County, and “Duuuval” has become the team’s distinctive rallying cry, something owned by the fan base even if it is not instantly recognized across the rest of the league.
Having Bortles lead it offers a nostalgic boost as the Jaguars look to prove last year’s success was no accident against a Browns team that, on paper, presents a manageable opening test before the schedule tightens.
Bortles arrived in Jacksonville as the third overall pick in the 2014 draft and spent five seasons as the face of the franchise. His peak came in 2017, when he guided the Jaguars to a 10-6 mark, another division crown, and a run that ended in the AFC Championship Game.
He still ranks second in team history with 103 passing touchdowns and third with 17,646 passing yards. His 35 touchdown passes in 2015 remain the single-season franchise record. Those numbers, mixed with the highs and lows typical of a young quarterback on a rebuilding roster, left an imprint that many supporters still remember fondly.
After leaving Jacksonville he appeared in three games for the Los Angeles Rams in 2019, then bounced through short stays with the Denver Broncos, a return to the Rams, the Green Bay Packers, and the New Orleans Saints.
He never played another regular-season snap after 2019 and retired following his release by the Saints in 2022.
Now 34, Bortles has moved into construction work with NEXGEN Roofing in the Jacksonville area. Sunday’s appearance therefore brings him back to the stadium not as a player but as a local figure who once carried the franchise’s hopes.
The moment is less about on-field performance and more about connection.
For a team trying to build on recent winning and for fans who watched Bortles grow up in the huddle, the First DUUUVAL offers a simple reminder of shared history before the new season’s first snap.
