Jaguars QB Coach Ben McAdoo Developing Positive Early Impressions of Gardner Minshew

In his first job in the NFL since being fired by the New York Giants, Ben McAdoo will be tasked with helping develop Gardner Minshew, a job he so far has enjoyed.

Compared to one year ago, the Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback meeting room, which consists of Gardner Minshew II, offensive coordinator Jay Gruden and quarterbacks coach Ben McAdoo, has undergone a drastic makeover. Now, the hope is that new brain trust can lead to Minshew taking a much-needed next step. 

While much of the offseason focus has been on how Gruden will get the most out of Minshew and shape his scheme around his talents, a relationship that is just as important is the one between McAdoo and Minshew. 

McAdoo has been out of the league the last several seasons, so his job developing Minshew (as well as Mike Glennon, Jake Luton and Josh Dobbs) is the first he has had since the New York Giants fired him as their head coach during the 2017 season. And while things are still in their infancy stage when it comes to teaching Minshew the scheme and unlocking his potential, it has been smooth sailings for the veteran coach thus far.

“Right now we’re still early on in the process. We have five practices under our belt, or I think this is going to be six, whatever the case may be. A lot of the concepts we’re throwing out him are new, some of them are things he’s done in the past so we’re working right now on just kind of learning the system and applying the necessary fundamentals to it," McAdoo said during a video press conference on Friday. 

Minshew impressed as a sixth-round rookie last season, completing over 60% of his passes, throwing for over 3,000 pass yards and recording 21 touchdowns to just six interceptions while compiling a 6-6 record as a starter. 

But while he flashed enough to earn Jacksonville's trust in 2020, there are still areas Minshew will need to improve in. That is where both Gruden and McAdoo come in, but especially McAdoo considering he will be with Minshew during every single period in practice, teaching him the proper techniques and fundamentals. 

"Whether that’s ball security, whether that’s working on his feet, whether it’s working on his timing, we’re working on a little bit of everything. At the same time, we’re going to be smart," McAdoo said. "We’re going to stick to what he does best and not ask him to change too much there, but there’s some things we know that can make a difference and help him out."

So far, the relationship between Minshew and his second positional coach in as many years has been a positive one. McAdoo knows his newest pupil has the smarts, athleticism and toughness to win at the NFL level, but he just needs seasoning. Meanwhile, Minshew knows McAdoo knows quarterback play. After all, the last two starting quarterbacks he coached were Aaron Rodgers and Eli Manning. 

For Minshew to navigate the waters in his first full season as starter, the experience and expertise of McAdoo will prove to be vital. Often times, a quarterback escapes to the security of his fellow passers and the coaches who individually work with him, using them as a sounding board for the ebbs and flows of the season. For this reason, it is paramount for McAdoo and Minshew to continue to be on the same page.

“Yeah, no, it’s been awesome working with Coach McAdoo. He brings a lot of experience, you know, [he’s] worked with a lot of good guys," Minshew said Friday. 

"And you know, he’s been out of the game, so he’s just that much [hungrier] and [more] eager to get back into it and I think that’s where it’s fun. We both have a lot of energy and passion for the game and it’s been a lot of fun working with him."

So, what kind of impressions did McAdoo have of Minshew before he met the team's starting quarterback for the first time? He of course broke down his performance as a rookie in 2019, a year in which it was hard to not be impressed by the traits Minshew displayed. But before he formed any concrete opinions, he wants to meet the young signal-caller. 

Now, McAdoo and Minshew have been working together for months if you count the virtual offseason, and weeks if you count training camp. That has been enough time for McAdoo to develop an impression of the quarterback, one that has been largely positive to this point.

"He’s a guy that’s very dedicated to football, not just the football part of things. But if you take a look at how he’s taken care of his body in the offseason; he’s been committed there," McAdoo said. "He’s done a great job studying the offense, not just when coaches are in the room with him or in the virtual meetings with him, but he’s taken the bull by the horns studying it and then getting the other players kind of going, doing some walk-throughs and things like that, so that’s been great. 

"He’s also a guy to me that’s very gritty. When you look at his past and the things that he’s been through in the game. I like to coach a player like that, someone who’s been through some things. He’s not a guy who’s had smooth sailing, so he has a little bit of a chip on his shoulder there and I like that. The last thing is he’s hungry. He wants to get better, not just in the system, but he wants to get better fundamentally. He wants to keep continuing to improve each and every day, just little things."