Fantasy Football stars and studs, Week 1

Gardner Minshew – Jacksonville Jaguars

Lamar Jackson, Kyler Murray and Cam Newton all produced strong performances and delivered more fantasy points than the Jaguars’ starting quarterback but arguably no display was more surprising than Gardner Minshew’s versus the Indianapolis Colts.

The Jaguars pulled off an improbable 27-20 win over an Indianapolis Colts team most expect to challenge in the AFC despite Jacksonville having purged the roster of its most talented players in an apparent bid to tank for Trevor Lawrence.

Minshew made the most of the young talent the Jaguars have on offense. He only threw for 173 yards but completed 19 of his 20 attempts and tossed three touchdowns.

At the end of Sunday’s action, Minshew was tied for 10th in scoring among quarterbacks with Deshaun Watson, ahead of the likes of Tom Brady, Patrick Mahomes and Dak Prescott.

It may not be realistic to expect Minshew to reproduce that kind of effort on a consistent basis but, after excelling against a defense that was anticipated to be improved in 2020, Minshew is an intriguing quarterback to watch.

Between D.J. Chark, Laviska Shenault and Keelan Cole, the Jaguars still have some exciting weapons in the passing game and Jacksonville is likely to be in a lot of games where Minshew will be required to attempt to dig them out of holes with his arm.

In standard formats, it would be too much of an overreaction to pencil in Minshew as a starting quarterback. However, his progress is worth monitoring as a potential waiver wire replacement at the position and, as he showcased on Sunday, his upside is enough to make Minshew a viable option in two-quarterback leagues.