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.