The Jacksonville Jaguars will hope that the arrival of Trevor Lawrence will turn the franchise around after an abysmal 2020 season. And that means QB Gardner Minshew will move to the backup spot on the roster. But he isn’t going to cede the starting job that easily.
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Minshew was drafted by the Jags in the 6th round of the 2019 NFL draft. Surprisingly, he took the league by storm after impressive performances in the starting spot.
Minshew started 12 games as a rookie, and then eight in 2020. He has thrown 797 passes, completing 501, with 37 touchdowns, 11 interceptions, 5,530 yards, and a passer rating of 93.1.
In a series of events that have been really unfortunate for Gardner Minshew, the Jags selected Trevor Lawrence with the first overall pick in April.
It’s clear that Lawrence is the franchise QB, and keeping Minshew around as a backup doesn’t make a lot of sense. Minshew, who’s only 25, has proven he deserves a chance to be a starting QB.
And for Jacksonville, although he’s a solid backup, bringing in a veteran who can mentor Lawrence is much more reasonable than keeping Gardner trapped on the bench.
Gardner Minshew is taking the Hernán Cortés approach to fight for QB1 job.
The 2020 Jags lost fifteen in a row after a Week One win, allowing the team to take quarterback Trevor Lawrence with the first pick in the draft. And it’s expected that Lawrence will be the day 1 starter come the 2021 season. But Minshew isn’t giving up on the spot easily, dropping a reference to Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés when asked about his chances of earning the job Friday.
“Anytime you go into anything thinking that losing or second best is an option, most of the time that’s what you’re going to get,” Minshew said. “That’s like when Cortés landed in Veracruz with 600 dudes trying to take the Aztec empire. You know what he said? He said, ‘Burn the boats.’ He said, ‘We’re going back on their boats.’
“That’s kind of a mindset that stuck with me pretty much since I heard that story.”
Cortés wound up toppling the Aztecs over the next few years, and Minshew wants to topple Lawrence. Minshew has been vocal about winning the starting job. Last month he said, “I’ll say this man, in preparation for the competition, I haven’t taken a sh*t in weeks,” Minshew recently said during an appearance on Green Light with Chris Long (via Jamal St. Cyr of WJXT4). “Because number two isn’t an option for me. Number two is not an option.”
Minshew will have to make big waves if he expects to start in Week 1. However, that is highly unlikely and he will probably get traded ahead, or midway through the season. Regardless, it will be very interesting to follow the Jags training camp.
