Eagles Player Spotlight: Gardner Minshew II

The Eagles acquired a new quarterback from the Jacksonville Jaguars on Saturday morning. This is to fill the third spot in their depth chart. The Eagles ended up releasing Nick Mullens, after he did not play well in all of his preseason games. Minshew is just what the doctor ordered for this Philadelphia Eagles team. He is a young quarterback that has experience in the NFL and definitely has the skills and the attributes to be the starter. He could even be a starter at the beginning of the season, but it would make sense to keep Hurts as the starter to see where he can take this Eagles offense. This is an Eagles Player Spotlight: Gardner Minshew II.

Minshew’s College Career

Minshew started his college career in the American Conference at East Carolina. During his time there he seemed like an average quarterback. The main reason being was that he was playing for a bad team that has struggled for years in the American Conference. His best season at East Carolina came in 2017. He threw for 2,140 passing yards and 16 touchdowns. He did turn the ball over a lot that year as he had seven Interceptions.

Photo courtesy of Dean Rutz/Seattle Times/TNS

Minshew really broke out when decided to transfer to Washington State. He threw for 4,779 yards and 38 touchdowns. The former cougar also had nine interceptions. He was very efficient that season has he had a 70.7 completion percentage which is insane for a quarterback. these days. He was ranked first in the PAC-12 in completions, passing yards and touchdowns in 2018.

Minshew’s Career in the NFL so far

The Jacksonville Jaguars ended up picking up Minshew in the sixth round of the NFL Draft. It did not take him long to be a starting quarter back in the NFL. He was substituted in for Nick Foles during the season opener during the 2019 season. Foles ended up being out for two months, which gave Minshew a chance to shine in the NFL. He started 12 games that season and looked impressive doing so as a rookie. Minshew passed for 21 touchdowns, while throwing 6 interceptions. His interception percentage was at 1.3 percent by the end of that season.

The following year he started just 8 games. He threw for 2,259 yards and 16 touchdowns. He also had six interceptions that year. His completion percentage was up six points from his rookie year as he was at 66 percent. Although Minshew has not had any terrible years in the NFL, he had some bad luck as the Jaguars ended up being the worst the team in the NFL in 2020. The Jaguars got the first pick in the draft and acquired Trevor Laurence who had an amazing few years at Clemson and is primed to be a good NFL quarterback. This left Minshew in a position where he would not start in the 2021 season and Jaguars decided to trade him to the Eagles who are in need of some depth at quarterback.

What can Minshew do for the Eagles

As said above Minshew is very accurate with ball. He does not turn the ball over much as a quarterback, which the Eagles struggled with over the preseason. This compensates for Minshew not having the strongest arm in the world. He also is not the most mobile quarterback, but he does just enough to get out of the pocket and extend plays. The NFL is throwing league and he has excelled in that department. As said above he will more than likely be behind Hurts at the beginning of the season. Joe Flacco and Minshew will have to duke it out for the second string position with the remaining time they have before the regular season. This has been an Eagles Player spotlight: Gardner Minshew II.

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