Most thought that the Jacksonville Jaguars season was done for not even halfway through their first game. The defense, the so-called strength of the team, came out flat, allowing the high flying Kansas City Chiefs offense to jump out to a quick 10-0 lead. Then, fresh off signing a four-year, $88 million contract, Nick Foles led the Jacksonville offense on their first scoring drive of the season, capped off by a beautiful touchdown throw from Foles to second-year wideout D.J. Chark. On that throw, however, Foles snapped his collarbone and was later put on injured reserve. Just when it looked like Jacksonville’s offense might have some competency to it, their quarterback got hurt. Foles only played 10 snaps, 11 if you include the play that led to the injury. The Chiefs eventually extended their lead all the way to 37-13 and Jacksonville’s year looked over before it began.
However, out of the ashes, one man rose to give this team life. Gardner Minshew II, a sixth-round rookie from Washington State, filled in for the former Super Bowl MVP and set a record for the highest completion percentage by a rookie in his first career game. He won rookie of the week and suddenly, the loss to Kansas City didn’t hurt that badly. Minshew carried a certain aura about him that set the league on fire. When he led a near comeback over the Houston Texans, the fire got bigger. Then, when he led Jacksonville to their first win last Thursday over the rival Tennessee Titans and won his second rookie of the week in three games, the entire country was ablaze. The jort wearing, mustache growing gunslinger from Pullman has captured the hearts of football fans, and I’m here to tell you that he is not going away anytime soon.
The Early Legend of Gardner Minshew
But First, a Brief History
By now most NFL fans are familiar with the exhausting journey Minshew took to get to this point. After not receiving an offer out of college, he walked on at Troy but shortly transferred to a junior college where he won a national title before transferring to East Carolina. After finishing out his senior year at ECU, he had a graduate transfer option available to him. The first team to call him up? Alabama and Nick Saban. They wanted Minshew to back up Jalen Hurts and Tua Tagovailoa than eventually join the coaching staff. This was Gardner’s best option until Washington State head coach Mike Leach called him up and asked if he wanted to lead the nation in passing. Minshew chose Pullman over Tuscaloosa and the rest is history. He went on to lead the Cougars to an 11-2 record, was the nation’s leading passer, and finished fifth in the Heisman Trophy voting.
Jacksonville selected Minshew in the sixth round of the 2019 NFL Draft as more of a developmental prospect than anything else. However, he quickly became their best option to back up Foles and got most of the first-team reps in the preseason, where he struggled mightily. Playing behind a makeshift offensive line featuring practice squad players and future coaches, Minshew had a very tough preseason but still went into this year as number two on the Jags depth chart. Then, of course, the Foles injury happened and Minshew seized the moment. Many ask if he is just a flash in the pan. I argue that he is not and there a few reasons for that.
His Decision-Making
For those who haven’t watched much Jaguars football in the past, which wouldn’t surprise me because it’s been ugly for a long time, I will say this. Gardner Minshew’s decision making both at the line and in the play is better than any Jacksonville quarterback I have watched in my life time. He already seems light years ahead of Blake Bortles, Chad Henne, and Blaine Gabbert, and he is safer with the ball than David Garrard ever was. Not since Mark Brunell in the late 1990s have the Jaguars had a quarterback with the brainpower of Minshew. For example, he scored a 42 on the Wonderlic test. The average for a quarterback? It hovers around a 25. Tom Brady? He scored a 33. Stanford standout Andrew Luck? He scored a 37, five less than Minshew.
This brainpower is evident on the field with every decision he makes. He has a 74 percent completion percentage thus far and has only thrown one interception that bounced off the facemask of Leonard Fournette. And it is not like he is overly cautious with the football, he just forces it downfield at the right times. That is something that cannot be taught. His awareness in the pocket is impressive as well, taking just five sacks so far, and only two since becoming the starter. Decision-making isn’t something that typically regresses, and if these are the type of choices he is making as just a sixth-round rookie in his second career start? He has a bright future ahead.
Gardner Minshew Is “Sneaky Athletic”
I use the quotes because I cannot stand when announcers refer to someone as sneaky athletic. It is used the same way that “crafty” is used for white slot receivers and it needs to stop. Minshew is athletic, period. He has 80 rushing yards on the season and has kept numerous plays and drives alive with his legs, including a 19-yard scamper to keep the comeback alive in Houston. He isn’t reliant on his legs like his predecessor Bortles but isn’t completely stagnant like Henne. His mobility in the pocket keeps him upright behind an average offensive line. While he’s no Lamar Jackson with his legs, he doesn’t have to be. All he has to do is be “sneaky athletic.”
He Loves Football
As obvious as it may seem, a quarterback’s love for the game is something that should not be overlooked. Sure, all of them love it on draft day, but a few years and a few thousand hits later, their attitude may change (side glance at Andrew Luck). Minshew will never be a Luck situation on a team. You can tell in everything he does. He could have given up after high school, or after East Carolina, or even after being drafted 178th overall, but he didn’t because he loves the game. Just how much does he love it? Well, Minshew told a story on the popular sports podcast Pardon My Take about how he tried to break his hand to get a medical redshirt. That’s right. He tried to BREAK HIS OWN HAND in order to play another year of football. He smashed with a hammer multiple times, just trying to gain an extra year of eligibility.
If that isn’t love of the game then I don’t know what is. Plus, throw in the lore of Gardner Minshew and everything that goes with him, from the mustache to the jorts to the sponsorship offer from an adult website, and you have someone who everyone loves to root for.
Conclusion
I firmly believe that if the Jaguars are in the playoff race by the time Nick Foles is healthy, they cannot bench Minshew if he is playing the way he has been. I think he will continue to play at the high level he is as well, making Foles the highest-paid backup in the NFL and giving Jacksonville something it has never had in its 25-year existence: a franchise quarterback. Gardner Minshew isn’t the hero Duval deserves, but he is the one they need right now.
PS – Gardner Minshew currently has the third-best odds to win rookie of the year, at +450. Just something to think about.
