Category: Gardner Minshew

Peter King on Jags’ draft outlook: ‘They really want to give Gardner Minshew a real shot’

Gardner Minshew II had an interesting year in 2019 and the Jags seeming doesn’t want to give up on his potential according to Peter King.

As of late, there have been many draft analysts slotting a quarterback to the Jags in the first round due to the uncertainty of what Gardner Minshew II could be. However, according to Peter King of NBC Sports, the team isn’t interested in taking a quarterback in Round 1 and wants to give the Mississippi Mustache a chance.

In his Football Morning in America post published Monday morning, he did a rundown of what he’s gathered about what certain teams could do in Round 1 and also singled out Isaiah Simmons as a potential option for the Jags. He also briefly mentioned the uncertainty behind Yannick Ngakoue:

Not a quarterback, I hear. “They really want to give Gardner Minshew a real shot,” one FOC (Friend of Caldwell) says. Defensive impact player like Swiss-Army-knifish Isaiah Simmons makes sense. Biggest question for Jags on draft weekend revolves around the latest really good cornerstone player who wants out, Yannick Ngakoue. Can Caldwell find a fair deal for the defensive end?

It makes sense that the Jags would want to give Minshew a chance after he went 6-6 as a starter and outperformed veteran Nick Foles when both were healthy. Adding offensive coordinator Jay Gruden and pairing him with their young signal-caller could also help the offense grow as Gruden has dealt with young quarterbacks through his tenure.

The perfect thing about Minshew is his contract. If he falls flat on his face in 2020, the Jags can move on easily and should be in position to get a quarterback in 2021. However, if he flourishes, his contract is so affordable to the point where the Jags could tune up the roster even more around him next season.

With 12 draft picks in this year’s draft the Jags could end up getting a solid left tackle like Andrew Thomas or Tristan Wirfs to improve the offensive line if they elect to pass on a defensive player like Simmons. Afterward, they could proceed to add pass-catchers as the draft offers a deep receivers class with names like Justin Jefferson, Jerry Jeudy, Henry Ruggs, and more.

Jags ranked last in Sports Illustrated’s new pre-draft power rankings

The Jags got no love from Sports Illustrated in their newest power rankings, coming in at the very last spot.

With the draft under two weeks away, power rankings from several different publications will be surfacing over the web over the next few days. Sports Illustrated recently posted some pre-draft rankings of their own this weekend and the Jacksonville Jaguars didn’t fare all that well in them. In fact, they came in at the very last spot due to all of the veterans they parted ways with this offseason.

32. Jacksonville Jaguars

It’s hard to believe the Jaguars were in the AFC championship game just two years ago. Trading DE Calais Campbell, CB A.J. Bouye and QB Nick Foles completed the restart, but head coach Doug Marrone and GM David Caldwell remain in place, for now.

The Jags will enter the draft needing to add more help around second-year quarterback Gardner Minshew II, which is another reason it’s easy to see why many aren’t high on them. However, the argument could be made that they still may be better than teams like the Cincinnati Bengals and Detroit Lions depending on who you ask.

The good thing for the Jags is that they have a chance to drastically improve their roster based on how they utilize their plethora of 2020 draft picks. At the moment, they currently have 12 picks in all, which gives them the ability to maneuver throughout the draft and land some really elite players.

Maurice Jones-Drew says he wants to see Jags better their defense through 2020 draft

NFL Network analyst and former Jacksonville Jaguar Maurice Jones-Drew discusses what the Jags should do in the 2020 draft.

Despite the tireless work he puts into being a sports analyst, former Jacksonville Jaguars running back Maurice Jones-Drew often makes the time to talk about his former team throughout the years. That was the case this year when he joined Jaguars.com’s Brian Sexton to discuss the current state of the team and league.

In the last part of their 1-on-1, Sexton asked Jones-Drew who are some players that would excite him if the Jags acquired them on opening night and Jones-Drew said Clemson linebacker, Isaiah Simmons. He continued to call him the best player in the draft then explained why it would be important for the Jags to add an elite player like him to their defense.

“If you’re going to give Gardner [Minshew] an opportunity to remain the starting quarterback like I’ve heard multiple times and all the reports we’ve heard, I’d want to better this defense because when that unit was one of the best in the league you had more opportunities offensively,” Jones-Drew said. “[Back in 2017] it gave Blake Bortles and the offense more chances to score. Remember that time where Blake got hot for about a month and the Jags were the scariest team in the league? They had a top defense and a hot quarterback. It was like, Woah! So, in my mind, I want to go back to that.”

Simmons undoubtedly would add a very versatile piece to the Jags’ defense. Of the many positions he could play, the Jags would probably put him at safety as the linebacking corps and nickelback position have established starters.

As for Jones-Drew’s statements about building up the defense, he certainly makes a solid point. The problem with that is the fact that the unit has so many holes to the point where it could take a while to build up. That said, it would be much easier to address the offensive side as they have the most talent on the team and are just a player or two away from being an impressive group.

Either way, the Jags can come out of this draft with a solid nucleus as they have 12 picks. Simply put, if they stick to a best available player approach, they will come out of the draft greatly improved.

NFL legend Warren Moon likes Cam Newton as a fit for Jaguars

Plenty of people have expressed that they believe the Jags should sing Cam Newton and now an NFL legend is onboard for it, too.

When fans talk about the biggest surprises of the 2020 NFL offseason, Cam Newton not being on a team certainly is amongst the top. After years of putting in a respectable body of work with the Carolina Panthers for nine seasons, the veteran was shockingly released last month and is now on the open market looking for a new home.

The Jacksonville Jaguars are a team who’ve been frequently associated with Newton on the web for the simple fact that their future at quarterback is unclear, though Gardner Minshew II showed plenty of potential last season. However, some believe that Minshew’s limited body of work is something that warrants adding a veteran and NFL legend Warren Moon is amongst them.

In an interview with TMZ Sports, the NFL legend stated that he likes the Jags as a fit for Newton because it’s one of the few spots where he could go and potentially start at the moment. He also singled out the Los Angeles Chargers as a destination, as Newton has some similarities to Tyrod Taylor while offering a larger body of work.

There absolutely shouldn’t be a problem that prevents the Jags from signing Newton and it would be a solid move on the Jags’ part. However, they likely want to see what Minshew has after going 6-6 last season, winning seven Pepsi Rookie of the Week awards, and flat out looking better than Nick Foles.

Adding Newton would probably prevent that because can beat out Minshew in a competition, which could halt his growth and potential to be a franchise quarterback, too. In other words, Newton is a better quarterback now (which is obvious when looking at his résumé), but it’s possible Minshew could end up being a franchise quarterback himself with time and patience.

 

Daniel Jeremiah on Jags’ 2020 outlook: ‘I think this year is about getting a good evaluation on Gardner Minshew’

The Jags could really bolster the offense in 2020 and that’s exactly what NFLNetwork’s Daniel Jeremiah believes they should do for Minshew.

While Gardner Minshew II has his share of skeptical critics, he also has some who want to see if he’s the real deal or not. NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah is certainly a name that has been banging the drum for Minshew to get another shot after his 2019 success.

In an interview with Jaguars.com’s J.P. Shadrick, he reiterated those statements and explained what the scenario in his latest mock would do for Minshew as he had the Jags adding two offensive players in Round 1.

“I think this year is about getting a good evaluation on Gardner Minshew,” Jeremiah said. “Can he build off of last year, which was impressive and show he can be the guy going forward? That will really free this franchise up to be able to spend money in free agency and other positions, fix the defense, use your resources in next year’s draft and really take care of that side of the ball.”

Afterward, Jeremiah stressed something we’ve mentioned on Jags Wire: Taking a left tackle early in the draft would kill two needs. For Jeremiah, the tackle he slotted to Jacksonville in his mock was Louisville’s Mekhi Becton and added that he’d allow Cam Robinson to play guard.

Afterward, he stated that the Jags could then use the No. 20 pick to get a pass-catcher, which would also help Minshew and let the Jags know whether he’s the guy going forward. In his latest mock, that pass catcher was Justin Jefferson of Louisiana State, a player who I also mocked to the Jags at pick No. 20.

While I believe taking an elite defender like Derrick Brown at No. 9 would work wonders for the Jags’ in the trenches, Jeremiah’s logic certainly isn’t wrong. The Jags’ offense will likely have to lead the team anyway due to the defense being so depleted, so why not make the unit as high-powered as possible?

Sports Illustrated ranks Jags with worst QB situation in NFL

The Jags don’t have a lot of experience between Gardner Minshew and Joshua Dobbs, which could lead to them adding a veteran down the road.

We hear it all the time, “When a team finds their franchise quarterback the rest will fall in place.” Unfortunately, for the Jacksonville Jaguars, they don’t quite know if they have their guy though Gardner Minshew II showed promise in 2019. That said, it looks as though the staff will allow him to prove himself this regular season by adding pieces around him in the offseason. 

With a limited body of work, one can understand why many fans and analysts are skeptical of Minshew and the Jags’ quarterback situation in general. The team’s No. 2, Joshua Dobbs, has zero starts to his name, which means the staff is unsure of what they have behind Minshew to a degree. 

Both player’s limited bodies of work are exactly why the Jags acquired the last spot in terms of their quarterback room on Monday Morning Quarterback’s rankings of the league’s quarterback situations by Connor Orr. 

32. Jacksonville Jaguars

Depth Chart: Gardner Minshew II, Joshua Dobbs

Minshew played well last year all things considered, but without an upgrade at wide receiver/tight end or a splash free agent signing (Cam Newton, anyone?) this feels like a rebuilding year in Jacksonville. 

I think most would agree the Jags need a veteran with some experience within their quarterbacks group more than another project rookie. That’s probably the staff’s mindset as well and it wouldn’t be shocking to see them add or trade for a veteran down the road.

As mentioned above, Cam Newton and Jameis Winston’s names have come up all over the web as fits. However, both may be unlikely because the Jags probably want to see what they have in Minshew.

One player that NFL insider Ian Rapoport mentioned to Jags Wire as a fit was Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton, but that was only if he’s released. He has a track record with Jags coordinator Jay Gruden and spent three seasons with him to start his career. While I doubt he’d start over Minshew, he’d certainly give them one of the league’s top back up options and make the group much more respectable overall.

Other names on the market include Josh McCown (he hasn’t officially retired), Mike Glennon, Cody Kessler, Brett Hundley, and Trevor Siemian amongst notables. Of the group, Hundley has the least amount of starts (nine) and Kessler is a close second (12). The other aforementioned names have accumulated over 20 at the least. 

Gardner Minshew discusses his battle with Anthony Gordon to start at Washington State

Anthony Gordon and Gardner Minshew both battled it out to start at WSU, and now Ramsey could end up being a late selection like Minshew.

Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Gardner Minshew II has always fought hard for the time he’s earned to start, and that was especially the case in college and the NFL. During his senior year at Washington State he got the nod from coach Mike Leach after transferring from Alabama and went on to put up historic numbers for the team.

While Minshew made things look easy during his 2018 campaign, the fact of the matter is his 2019 successor, Anthony Gordon, pushed him hard and didn’t make the decision an easy one on coach Leach. In a recent interview posted by Crissy Froyd on Titans Wire, Leach discussed the quarterback competition that occurred before the 2018 season and how it brought the best out of Tyler Hilinski (before his passing and prior to Minshew’s arrival), Gordon and Minshew.

“I thought it brought the best out of all three of them. I thought it was very closely contested,” Leach said. “I think the edge that Gardner had was that he’d actually played in a game, so he had a little more experience. I thought that each of the three did things that were better than the other. Gardner, for not having been exactly in the offense, really gained a lot of ground quickly, and in the end I found that to be quite impressive, and then statistically you could argue that Anthony at various points was ahead for sure.”

Minshew also discussed the competition and his relationship with Gordon.

“Watching Gordo play with a lot of aggressiveness and creativity challenged me to push outside of my comfort zone,” Minshew said. “I just tried to help him as he goes through the whole process, giving him advice any time I thought I could help.”

That mentality helped Minshew when he came into the league, and he was as prepared as a sixth-round pick could be for Nick Foles’ unexpected collarbone injury. By the end of the season, he was 6-6 for the team and was able to win seven Pepsi Rookie of the Week awards. 

If the 2020 season is played out, it looks like Minshew’s impressive display showed the Jags enough to get him the starting role. Whenever he retakes the field, fans should expect him to have the same mentality he had while with the Cougars before the 2018 season regardless of who he’s battling. 

Jags over/under win total set at 5.5, tied for lowest figure in NFL

The oddsmakers in Vegas are high on the Jags’ chances to have a good season, similarly to some fans.

With a rebuild currently in place, fans of the Jacksonville Jaguars should have high expectations for the team, though the future past 2020 may be bright. Simply put, it appears the Jags will have to rely on a lot of their draft picks to make an impact and that typically doesn’t win a team but four to six games.

Just as we do, the oddsmakers from BetOnline.ag seemingly understand what could be in store for the Jags’ 2020 roster, too. In their latest over/under totals, the Jags were tied for the lowest figure in the league (5.5) alongside the Carolina Panthers, Washington Redskins, and Cincinnati Bengals.

The Jags are currently enduring a big overhaul, especially on defense. They traded both veterans Calais Campbell and A.J. Bouye this offseason, both of whom were Pro Bowlers during their Jags tenures. If the team took the field today, Rodney Gunter and Darqueze Dennard would be playing in their spots, and though both have potential, they aren’t nearly on the same level as the two former Pro Bowlers.

On offense, the Jags traded quarterback Nick Foles and will be giving Gardner Minshew II the keys to the offense. As a rookie, he turned heads in 2019, leading the Jags to all six of their wins while accumulating seven Pepsi Rookie of the Week awards. He also was able to accumulate a 60.6% completion rate (285-of-470) for 3,271 passing yards, 21 touchdowns, and six picks.

While his unit will likely carry the team because it has more talent, it’s going to be a tall task for Minshew to match his 2019 win total with a less talented defense. Then again, maybe the Jags knock their next draft out of the park and land multiple contributors as they did in 2019. Until the selections are made, however, I’d say four to five wins feels about right for the Jags.

6 winners from Jags’ early free agency moves

Dave Caldwell, despite not making a lot of splash additions in free agency, is definitely doing some good things for the Jags this offseason.

We’ve almost reached the one-week mark of the tampering period and the Jacksonville Jaguars have made several key moves in terms of rebuilding their franchise. Of course, there is still a lot of work to be done and more moves will follow, but before we get to that point, we figured we’d reflect on who came out as winners from this week’s moves:

Mandatory Credit: Logan Bowles-USA TODAY Sports

GM Dave Caldwell

There was a lot of damage done to the Jags’ organization with the addition of Tom Coughlin (and before his arrival, too), and though general manager Dave Caldwell hasn’t fixed the team by any means, the future is one fans can somewhat be excited about.

In the beginning, it may not have been clear to fans exactly what Caldwell was doing or why he was breaking up what remained from 2017, but it is now and it’s the right move. It has long felt like the Jags’ organization was living in the past trying to hold on to what happened in 2017, but the fact of the matter was they overachieved that year and lost way too many key parts from that unit to begin with. The Jags were without notables Paul Posluszny, Telvin Smith, Tashaun Gipson, Barry Church and Malik Jackson in 2019 to name a few, and they needed to face reality then.

They’ve now finally realized that a rebuild is right, and though strong cases can be made that it should be without Caldwell, he’s almost knocked the early 2020 process out of the park. He moved on from pricey players like Calais Campbell, A.J. Bouye and got fifth and fourth-round selections, respectively, for them. While they both were talented, the Jags likely weren’t going to be good by the time their contracts ended. That said, to get draft picks out of both is great.

However, Caldwell’s best move came this past week when he managed to trade quarterback Nick Foles and somewhat get away from his bad contract. To make things even better, he was even able to get something in return (a 2020 fourth-round pick) when maybe it should’ve been the other way around. That gave the Jags 12 draft picks and now they are in a situation where their starting quarterback, Gardner Minshew II, is on a sixth-round pick salary for two years.

If Minshew is good in 2020, that’s awesome. If he isn’t, he’ll lead them into a top selection to land his successor. That’s a win-win situation and one in which Jags fans should give props to Caldwell for — whether they like him or not.

Pages: Page 1, Page 2, Page 3, Page 4, Page 5

Jags reiterate their confidence in both Nick Foles, Gardner Minshew

As expected, the Jacksonville Jaguars sung a familiar tune at the NFL Combine during their presser meetings: they have two good quarterbacks and the best man will win. Of course, those two quarterbacks are Nick Foles and Gardner Minshew II, both of …

As expected, the Jacksonville Jaguars sung a familiar tune at the NFL Combine during their presser meetings: they have two good quarterbacks and the best man will win. Of course, those two quarterbacks are Nick Foles and Gardner Minshew II, both of whom will be involved in an open competition to start.

With Marrone taking the spotlight first with the media, he stated that the key will be seeing one or the two separate themselves from each other in the preseason, and once that happens, a starter will be crowned.

“The best thing to do is have those guys go out there and have them compete,” Marrone said Tuesday at the Scouting Combine. “When one of them separates themselves, and there’s been enough body of work for it, then that person’s going to be the starting quarterback.

“We’re trying to create that at all of the positions. Quarterback’s no different.”

Caldwell, on the other hand, was complimentary of both players, pointing out Foles’ experience and Minshew’s good rookie campaign.

“Both of those guys are in a situation that they both have proven in their own way that they can be a good quarterback in the NFL,” Caldwell said. “Nick obviously has a much larger body of work than Gardner does. But what Gardner did last year as a rookie I think is very impressive. He won six games and was .500 in the games he started […] He had probably the best stats of any rookie quarterback last year.”

Foles was the Jags’ big free agent acquisition last March and signed a massive four-year, $88 million contract. After coming off a season in which he filled in late for Carson Wentz, propelled the Philadelphia Eagles to the Super Bowl, and became the game’s MVP, Foles unfortunately wasn’t able to sustain his success. He suffered from a collarbone injury Week 1 against the Kansas City Chiefs and was eventually benched Week 14 against the Los Angeles Chargers after returning Week 11. Ultimately, he finished the season 77-of-117 (65.8%) for 736 yards, three touchdowns, and two picks and will be hoping for a bounce back season in 2020.

As for Minshew, he put up better numbers than first round pick Kyler Murray in some categories like passer rating (91.2 to 84.7) and touchdown passes (21 to 20). In terms of completions, he was 85-of-470 (60.6%) for 3,271 passing yards, and threw six picks.