5 potential landing spots for Jaguars QB Gardner Minshew in 2021

Broncos GM John Elway is not quite ready to say he’s made another mistake at quarterback, professing faith in Drew Lock. Lock started his rookie season in 2019 injured, and he missed time earlier this season too. All told he’s 8-8 in a full season of games as an NFL starter (4-7 this year).

If the Broncos aren’t ready to make a move to clearly unseat Lock next year (Matthew Stafford, etc.), finding a better option than Jeff Driskel or Brett Rypien to back him up seems to be an order. Via RBDSM.com, the only qualifying quarterbacks (33 qualifiers, minimum 256 plays) less efficient than Lock this year are Carson Wentz and Sam Darnold (for what it’s worth, Minshew is ranked 20th entering Week 16). Not the company you want to be in.

Minshew can be just as erratic as Lock has been, so that wouldn’t be a huge shift in style unfortunately. But adding someone to either mentor or push Lock has to be on Elway’s radar this offseason. Minshew would be in the latter vein, as a backup fans and analysts will clamor for if (when?) Lock struggles. But he would not come at a high cost, and he might keep things on the rails if Lock were to be banged up again. The weapons Denver has assembled (Jerry Jeudy, Noah Fant, K.J. Hamler, Tim Patrick) would make Minshew particularly interesting if he had to step in.