Jaguars' HC Urban Meyer: Gardner Minshew Not Available For Trade 'At This Point'
With March typically being the setting for teams to take dice rolls on backup signal-callers as they bolster their quarterback rooms ahead of the upcoming season, there has been plenty of attention on Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Gardner Minshew II.
Could teams like the Patriots, Broncos, Bears, or any other quarterback-starved team be interested in trading for the former Jaguars starter? That was a question posed earlier this week, but one that Jaguars head coach Urban Meyer shot down on Friday -- at least for now.
"At this point, no," Meyer said Friday when asked about the team hearing out offers for Minshew, a sixth-round pick from 2019 who has started 20 games over the last two years.
"At this point, I know Gardner [Minshew II] a little bit. He came in yesterday; we had a good visit. That’s the second time I spent time with him."
Minshew's place in the Jaguars' organization has been a bit of a looming question since the 2020 season ended. Once the Jaguars secured the No. 1 overall pick, it became an automatic assumption the Jaguars would draft a quarterback, presumedly Clemson's Trevor Lawrence, with the 2021 NFL Draft's top pick.
That speculation hasn't died down at all since Meyer took over the Jaguars' franchise in mid-January. Meyer himself has been attached to Lawrence at the hip at his pro day, leading to many wondering just how available Minshew could be on the trade market.
This question was further fueled this week when NFL Network's Ian Rapoport reported teams had shown interest in Minshew, who turns 25-years-old in May.
"One QB to monitor: The Jaguars have received a few calls from teams inquiring about QB Gardner Minshew, source said. The Jax QB room is in flux, and we’ll see where this one goes," Rapoport tweeted.
But just because teams are calling doesn't mean the Jaguars are necessarily listening. As of now, it appears the Jaguars are intended on evaluating their quarterback position further before making any changes, even with the addition of Lawrence set to come in just a few weeks.
"This is all kind of new to me. I’m used to spending about five, six hours a day with our quarterback. January, February, that’s the days you get your quarterback ready to go. You can’t do that in the NFL," Meyer said.
"There’s a lot of anticipation about the first pick. I understand there’s a lot of conversation out there, but there’s been no decisions made. Gardner’s done some very good things here in Jacksonville and he’s a competitive maniac, which I really appreciate that about him. So, there’s been no decisions made. Yesterday was the first lengthy meeting we had and we’re going to continue that here for the next few weeks.”
Minshew dazzled as a rookie starter in 2019, going 6-6 as a starter while completing 60.6% of his passes for 21 touchdowns and six interceptions. He opened 2020 as the Jaguars' unquestioned starter but went 1-6 in the season's first seven weeks as the offense torpedoed each week.
Following the team's Week 8 bye, the Jaguars revealed that Minshew had disclosed a thumb injury that occurred several weeks prior. Minshew would be either inactive or the team's backup for the next six weeks, though he did start in a Week 15 loss against the Baltimore Ravens.
"With Gardner and [Jake] Luton, we’re in good shape. We have two young guys that both have played," Jaguars general manager Trent Baalke said last week when asked about the backup quarterback position.
"They’ve both done a very good job. I think, right now, we’re just trying to get a feel for them going in with the new system. There’s just a lot of newness right now. That will all shake itself out once we get into the offseason program, which hopefully we have, and we’ll go from there.”
