Jaguars' Gardner Minshew Continues to Earn Praise From Coaches, New Teammates
2020 is going to be a big year for Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Gardner Minshew II. Only a year ago he was a sixth-round rookie who was slated to backup Nick Foles, but now Minshew is set to be "the man" behind center in Duval.
Last offseason, Minshew was simply acclimating to the NFL as a rookie signal-caller. While he would later start 12 games, he wasn't groomed as the starter throughout offseason team activities, mini-camps, training camp, and more, with those duties being relegated to Foles.
But this offseason? It is considerably different.
Minshew's first offseason as the starter has been disrupted by COVID-19, keeping him and his teammates off of the field and out of TIAA Bank Field facilities, but his teammates and coaches have still looked to him as the team's newest leader in the huddle.
And thus far, according to those around him, Minshew has impressed, particularly in terms of communicating with his teammates and learning new offensive coordinator Jay Gruden's offensive scheme.
"I think Gardner, from what I’ve seen just being in the meetings with him, he’s been on top of it pretty well already and given that, I think it’s been a little under or over a month that he’s had the playbook and everything and learning it," veteran running back Chris Thompson said about Minshew on Tuesday.
"And it’s also been good as well that when we’re in those meetings, it’s players-only meetings so Gardner asked me a couple questions here and there about what Jay’s looking for or with a certain play call, how he’s gonna play and what he expects the routes to look like, stuff like that and I’m able to help out with it. So I think overall he’s grasping it well and I think it’s gonna be no problem for him to catch on to it as well as the playmakers."
Thompson is one of several Jaguars veterans who didn't experience Minshew Mania in 2019. He spent the year with Washington and signed with Jacksonville this offseason, so any impressions he has on Minshew are genuine and recently formed.
And Thompson isn't the only new teammate Minshew has impressed thus far this offseason. Tight end Tyler Eifert spent his first seven seasons with the Cincinnati Bengals, spending each year with Andy Dalton, before signing with the Jaguars this offseason. So far, the veteran tight end has liked what he has heard and seen from Minshew despite the offseason being completely virtual.
“I have talked to him a couple of times on the phone, and he seems like an awesome dude. He is taking charge already," Eifert said earlier this month. "We are doing some group stuff and trying to learn the offense. I have not watched a lot of tape on him, but obviously I saw last year with the mania going on.
"He seems like a guy that the offense wants to rally behind. He seems like he is kind of a fearless leader and you need that when you are on the field and the bullets are flying and things are not going your way. You need that kind of guy that is going to take charge of the huddle and be like, ‘We got this.’ I think it will be fun to see his growth from Year 1 to Year 2 and I’m excited to get to work with him.”
Obviously, one of the main people Minshew is going to want to leave a solid impression on for his efforts this offseason is head coach Doug Marrone. Marrone was notably unconfident in Minshew after a shaky preseason last year, but the rookie's moxie and performances quickly won his head coach over.
Now, Minshew is continuing to leave a mark on Marrone and the rest of the Jaguars' locker room by communicating with his team and attempting to build chemistry during an offseason in which they haven't been allowed to bond in a traditional sense.
"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," Marrone said. "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.”
Minshew's performance on the field in 2020 is what will ultimately define his first season as the Jaguars' starting quarterback, and determine if he will be the signal-caller past this season. But so far in a virtual offseason, he appears to have been doing everything by the book in the eyes of his teammates and coaches.
