If the Jacksonville Jaguars draft a quarterback, it doesn’t mean the end of Gardner Minshew.
It was only a little over two years when the Jacksonville Jaguars shocked us all and made it all the way to the AFC Championship Game against the Patriots. They ultimately lost, but their defense had been a force to be reckoned with all season long.
After that impressive season, the Jaguars have fallen back into irrelevancy the past two years and now could be in a position where they take a quarterback in the first round. This started to gain more traction on Wednesday when Jason La Canfora tweeted the Jags are eyeing the number four pick, currently owned by the Giants.
If Jacksonville did make this move, let’s not kid ourselves here: It’d be for quarterback. And if they did trade up to grab their next franchise signal caller, that wouldn’t necessarily mean it’s time to move on from Gardner Minshew, a player who captured everyone’s attention in the early part of his rookie year when he took over for an injured Nick Foles.
The Jaguars obviously saw something in Minshew this time last year, taking him in the sixth round and deciding to make him their starter for 2020 by trading Foles away this offseason. The fans in Jacksonville love him, so even if the Jaguars moved up to four, drafted Tua Tagovailoa or Justin Herbert, Minshew still could have a place on the depth chart.
It’s not like he was a first round draft choice, so moving on from him isn’t deemed as much of a waste of time as it would be if he were a first rounder. Instead, Minshew can serve as one of the better backups in the league. He could also be the starter at the beginning of the year to help mentor the rookie quarterback and if Tua isn’t healthy enough to play, having someone like Minshew there to start games wouldn’t force Tua into action before he’s ready.
The Jaguars were essentially one quarterback away in 2017 and they’ve been trying to make up for that ever since. They had a great defense that season and couldn’t get to the top of the mountain. That’s an area that, ever since, has dropped off tremendously so adding weapons on that side of the ball makes more sense in this draft.
If the Jaguars find a quarterback they love in the first round, however, then they can feel confident knowing they’ll have whoever they take along with Gardner Minshew on their depth chart for the next three years.