Gardner Minshew not surprised by his own success

Posted by Michael David Smith on September 20, 2019, 5:12 AM EDT
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Some people are surprised that Jaguars quarterback Gardner Minshew, a sixth-round rookie thrust into the starting lineup by Nick Foles‘ injury, is playing so well. Minshew is not one of those people.

Asked after Thursday night’s win over the Titans if he considers his own play surprising, Minshew said he doesn’t.

“No, because I know the preparation I put in,” Minshew said, via News 4 in Jacksonville. “I know the guys that I have around me and the coaches we have have done everything they can to prepare me. I’ve never felt unprepared. Didn’t have much experience but I’m definitely prepared.”

Through three games of his NFL career, Minshew has completed 65 of 88 passes for an outstanding 73.9 percent completion rate, with 692 yards, an average of 7.9 yards per pass, with five touchdowns and one interception. Those are very good numbers for any quarterback. For a sixth-round rookie, they’re extremely surprising — to everyone but Minshew.

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68 responses to “Gardner Minshew not surprised by his own success”

  3. As opposed to – “Golly! I didn’t know I had that in me!”
    Anybody that watched Minshew in college last year knows he has stones of… well, stones. Go Cougs!

  7. I loved Minshew coming out WSU and wanted Arizona to draft him as the back-up to Kyler Murray because I thought he could develop into trade bait down the road. AZ said they loved a QB who would be available toward the end of the draft, and knowing Kingsbury I think that QB was Minshew but the Jaguars scooped him before Arizona could later in the draft. I think Minshew is going to come back down to earth in the coming weeks now that teams have some tape on him and an understanding of how JAX wants to use him, but even then I think he wil stilll develop into an average mid-tier starting QB. It’s too bad JAX GTD’d Foles all that money.

  11. Wasn’t some guy named Brady a 6th round pick many years ago? Wonder what happened to that guy…

  12. Always glad to see a guy that far back in the draft (or undrafted) do well. He should have confidence!

  13. Mariota has a terrible game and still had more yards than the golden child, who did nothing after being gifted TDs in the first quarter.

  20. A defense that you can depend on, regardless of field position, is one step behind having a great offensive line.

    Good for him. He was put in a position to succeed, with no ‘savior’ expectations unlike most high round draft picks.

  22. Why would you ever pay a QB big buck in free agency? I can see paying a guy for past performance, but young guys on rookie contracts are out performing mid tier QBs all over the league, and they have way more upside. Dak, sure, pay the guy; Dallas has had him for 4 years on a rookie deal. Same for R. Wilson, etc. But big money to Cousins, Foles and the like is looking foolish these days.

  23. Impressive young pocket quarterback. His calm and confident demeanor are difficult to teach. Definitely shades of Brees. Good luck to the young man and the normally snakebit Jaguars.

  32. this is guy is awesome. A QB with personality!

    by contrast Brady is about as exciting as a Belichick press conference.

  34. Its just 1 game.
    Minshew made some money throws, but also made a few bad ones.
    It will be interesting to see how he develops over the season.

  40. No, because I know the preparation I put in

    That’s something their previous QB seemed indifferent about doing. Minshew is nothing short of amazing. He doesn’t play like a rookie and even though that OL is terrible he’s still having success. I watched them interview him on the NFL Network set and he doesn’t sound like a rookie either. This guy may end up being the steal of the draft. I think this guy is a true leader and has given that team confidence that the offense can finally do something. If he can keep that up and that defense can play like it did last night they are going to be a tough team to deal with. Amazing what one week can do. I figured their season was already over sitting at 0-2. They could win that division if Minshew can keep this up.

  42. NFL Teams miss on QBs on a regular basis. Only surprise here is that someone had the good sense to Draft this guy at all. Sad thing is that many late rounders have shown they can play the game in College, but the investment is in the bad early picks who get to stick around and get paid and then disappear,meanwhile the no name is long gone…

  45. You don’t rock a stache like that and NOT piss a delightful blend of confidence and excellence.

  46. I love it when low round players simply bust their rears and take advantage of an opportunity and outplay the highly drafted frauds like the Rapist Winston and Mariota. This guy clearly has talent. Hopefully he’ll be coached to continue to improve and to play within himself against talented foes. The Titans are a horrible team so let’s not get ahead of ourselves and believe beating awful teams like Lamar and Dakota have done this year makes them truly special. To date neither are remarkable in any way and are a product of defenses that bail them out.

  49. Minshew played well against a top 10 D (top 5 for pass defense). I think he proved himself capable.

    Will it stay that way? I expect some ups and downs and defensive coordinators learn his tendencies and weaknesses, but that applies to all young QBs.

    I find young revelations like him way more exciting to watch than proclaimed franchise QBs taken in the first round.

  51. I wish the kid well. I hope he plays great and gives the Jags a QB for the future. However, it’s very early on. Wait until the rest of the league gets film on him and figures out his tendencies–then we’ll see if he’s got the goods or not. Right now he’s a pleasant surprise, but let’s see if he can still play lights out as the season progresses. I hope he does.

  52. Minshew threw some highly accurate passes and was consistently good.

    The Refs did offset this game though, heavily for the Jags – it was almost as if it was fixed……….

  53. Minshew has done alright, but all this crowning him so quickly is just because he’s a free spirited short white guy with a pornstache.
    That image gets everyone.
    If he was a normal white guy, or a black QB everyone would be towing the ‘jury is still out’ / ‘wait til he plays a real defense’ / ‘wait til defenses game plan for him’ line

    He is off to a good start for sure but pump the brakes

  54. This is why teams take fliers on late round QB’s. Low risk, high reward potential. Teams are going to gamble, but they usually end up with Tyler Thigpin or Rick Meier types.

  55. It’s amazing how this kid can look so good, yet you have a 1st rounder 3 years into the league like Mitch Tribuski that looks so bad. But then again, you’re the Bears QB….you’re expected to suck.

  58. This guy is incredible! Too bad Arizona didn’t use their #1 pick on areas of critical need (dline/oline) and then taken Minshew before the Jags could scoop him up. He’s SO much better than Kyler Murray, just didn’t get the hype not coming from Oklahoma. Looks like another 6th rounder who the “experts” missed. Going to be fun to watch this guys career take off. GO JAGS!

  63. With the influx of decent young QBs coming into the game, maybe we can stop treating it as a no-brainer that you have to overpay veterans because QBs are “so hard to find”. I’m sick of guys like Alex Smith, Kirk Cousins, Joe Flacco and Brock Osweiler getting huge deals based upon this philosophy.

    I’ll bet the Jaguars wish they had known what they had in Minshew before they threw huge money at Nick Foles, who if you look at his entire career and not just three games in 2017/2018, has had more bad games than good.

  64. smoothrobinva says:

    September 20, 2019 at 11:04 am

    The next Tom Brady !!’n the jaguars are gonna dominate the necessary 20 years
    __________

    Woah woah woah…slow down. There will never be, another Tom Brady. He might be the next Joe Montana, but that’s about it.

  66. I know this is ridiculously early to even say something like this, but is there even a chance that Foles and his $22 million a year go from IR to the bench?

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