Who the heck is Gardner Minshew?
Nick Foles left his first game with the Jacksonville Jaguars with an injury, but rookie quarterback Gardner Minshew was there to help give the Jags a chance.
The Jacksonville Jaguars came into Week 1 knowing that they’d need to pitch a perfect game on both sides of the ball, as that’s the requirement when facing Patrick Mahomes, who is quite literally the most dominant player in the entire NFL.
Mahomes lived up to his billing early, completing eight of his first nine passes for over 200 yards, shredding the Jaguars strong defense with Sammy Watkins by his side. All hope seemed to be lost for the Jaguars when Nick Foles suffered a game-ending injury, but little-known rookie quarterback Gardner Minshew stepped into save the day and lead Jacksonville to a pair of scoring drives, cutting the deficit to 23-13 at half time.
Minshew was owning Kansas City’s questionable defense, as he completed all nine of his first-half passes for a whopping 128 yards.
But just who the heck is Minshew?
Well, first of all, he has the greatest mustache ever.
Even Mike Leach can appreciate it.
Yes, Minshew played under Leach at Washington State last year, which means he put up some crazy number in the Pac-12. Minshew threw 38 touchdowns with a completion percentage over 70%, thriving in Leach’s offense before being drafted in the sixth round this year by the Jaguars.
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He’s already off to a brilliant start, and he looks like a much better backup quarterback than, say, Cody Kessler. It’s impossible to make a judgment off of nine passes, but Minshew does come from a strong collegiate background.
In fact, the former JUCO and East Carolina signal-caller was the Pac-12’s Offensive Player of the Year and finished fifth in the Heisman Trophy race last year.
Minshew’s accuracy, pocket presence, and decent athleticism make him an ideal NFL backup, but if he keeps playing like this in spot duty for Foles, he could enchant a quarterback-needy team enough to get them to consider a trade. That said, there’s nothing wrong if Minshew ends up being a great backup in this league, and he has the ideal ‘stache for clipboard-holding.