Jim Nagy on Gardner Minshew: ‘If There Was a Re-Draft of Last Year, He’s a First or Second-Round Pick’
Hindsight is a powerful tool. While it may not change anything in the present, it at least gives us a chance to reflect on where processes went right, where they went wrong, and what could have or should have taken place instead.
In the case of Jacksonville Jaguars QB Gardner Minshew II, hindsight will likely follow him throughout his NFL career. In hindsight, there is no reason Minshew should have been a sixth-round pick and there are clearly not 170+ players who deserved to be drafted ahead of him.
But the world doesn't operate in hindsight, and the Jaguars were lucky enough to grab Minshew before the draft's final round, giving them their starting quarterback for 2020 and potentially even beyond then.
"He obviously got grossly, grossly underdrafted. In hindsight, if there was a re-draft of last year, he’s a first or second-round pick," Senior Bowl Executive Director Jim Nagy said on The Frangie Show on 1010 XL in Jacksonville this week.
As a rookie, Minshew started 12 games (appearing in 14) and went 285/470 passing (60.6%) for 3,271 yards, 21 touchdowns, and six interceptions. He started the season as the Jaguars' backup after a rough preseason, but was forced into action in Week 1 after an injury to Nick Foles.
In March, Foles was traded to the Chicago Bears and Minshew was officially given the keys to the Jaguars' offense. For Nagy, who saw Minshew perform at the Senior Bowl leading up to last year's draft, "all signs are pointing up," for the young signal-caller.
"6-6 as a rookie, highest-rated rookie, higher than Kyler Murray, not a great supporting cast around him. To me those are all huge takeaways from a rookie season," Nagy said on the radio show.
Despite Minshew's strong rookie season, he is still being considered by many as merely a bridge quarterback for the Jaguars. He is seen by most outside of Jacksonville as one of the league's weakest starters, but Jacksonville sees starting-level talent after he displayed it week after week in 2019.
In Nagy's eyes, there is a chance there wouldn't even be any long-term questions about Minshew's viability if he was a top pick instead of a sixth-rounder.
"Where he got drafted in the sixth round, there are probably skeptics. But if all you do is change the draft slot and say that Gardner went in the first-round I think that people would be saying ‘Yeah, of course, he has the chance to be a franchise guy.’" Nagy said.
"People that are saying he doesn’t have a chance are probably just pointing to where he got drafted."
In 2020, Minshew will once again attempt to prove the doubters wrong as he tries to lead the Jaguars to an improved year offensively, and in terms of general wins and losses.
So far, Minshew's first offseason as an NFL starting quarterback has been a bit strange since all team activities are limited to a virtual setting due to the COVID-19 outbreak. But despite this, Minshew has still shown the leadership expected out of the starting passer, even if it isn't done on the field yet.
"I think Gardner’s obviously reached out, spoken to a lot of players and I think a lot of our players are on group text and trying to create that chemistry that we talked about before which is difficult to do in a virtual setting,"Jaguars head coach said in a video conference on Friday.
"So we have some programs and quizzes, some things that we do with the players and Gardner has been doing a good job of keeping everybody involved with that.”
