After the contributions he made last season, many are very excited to see what Gardner Minshew II can do in 2020. However, some have concerns for him due to the fact that the Jacksonville Jaguars weren’t able to add much around him this offseason.
Bleacher Report’s Kristopher Knox is among those who have concerns for the group around Minshew as he listed the second-year star’s supporting cast 31st in the league. Here is a snippet of what he had to say about the unit, which will be a huge factor in whether the Jags’ 2020 season goes well:
By trading Nick Foles, the Jacksonville Jaguars have given Gardner Minshew II a clear shot at being their next franchise quarterback. Minshew showed a lot of promise as a rookie, throwing for 3,271 yards, 21 touchdowns and six interceptions despite playing with one of the league’s most pedestrian supporting casts.
Minshew isn’t likely to get much more help in 2020 unless Shenault has the sort of rookie season that DK Metcalf and A.J. Brown had in 2019.
Many fans share Knox’s sentiments because the Jags didn’t add to the offense like they were hoping for.
When looking at the biggest concern for fans, adding offensive line help was something many spoke in favor of this offseason as the unit wasn’t overly impressive in 2019. However, despite it arguably being the top unit fans wanted to address, the front office felt differently and their only significant addition for the unit was fourth-round pick, Ben Bartch. That said, the team will be banking heavily on starters like A.J. Cann, Cam Robinson, and Andrew Norwell to look significantly better than they did in 2019.
Another huge position of concern that fans worry about is at tight end. Like the offensive line, tight end was high on the list of needs in the eyes of fans this offseason as the Jags got very little contributions from the position in 2019. A big reason for that is because the Jags went through a variety of injuries there as both veteran James O’Shaughnessy (ACL) and rookie Josh Oliver (back) ended up on injured reserve. As a result, the Jags added veteran Tyler Eifert in free agency due to his familiarity with coordinator Jay Gruden, but it’s been hard to be overly confident with Eifert’s health concerns as he’s missed 53 (of 112) career regular season games.
Lastly, there were (and still are) some concerns at receiver. As pointed out the team selected Laviska Shenault to patch up that need, as well as Texas receiver Collin Johnson a few rounds later. Both have a ton of potential, but when considering the fact that they are rookies one has to wonder about the immediate impact they could have.
So yeah, when factoring in how the Jags spent more resources on their defense than offense, it’s understandable why many will question Minshew’s supporting cast. However, with at least one good player in Leonard Fournette and one great player in D.J. Chark Jr., the unit has a slight chance to make some noise, but again, the players around them will need to take a significant step from last season.