Gardner Minshew Arrives in a New Quarterback Competition with the Philadelphia Eagles

The Gardner Minshew trade cleared up one quarterback battle and complicated another right before the 2021-22 NFL season gets underway.

Minshew, who had been competing with No. 1 pick Trevor Lawrence for the starting job in Jacksonville, was traded to the Philadelphia Eagles for a sixth-round pick in late August. Minshew has been solid in two seasons in Jacksonville, and still has enough promise that it wasn’t a foregone conclusion that Lawrence would start immediately. But it was also clear that even if it wasn’t week one, Lawrence would be Jacksonville’s top quarterback very soon, so Minshew has been a popular name on the trade market for some time. It wasn’t a surprise when the Jaguars, a team in need of excitement, ultimately went with Lawrence in that competition.

Minshew doesn’t necessarily get penciled in as Philadelphia’s starter, but he certainly has a good chance of winning that job soon. Incumbents Jalen Hurts and Joe Flacco have been in competition for Philadelphia’s starting job all preseason.

Hurts took over as the starter last season for Carson Wentz. His athleticism and ability to make plays with his arm or legs give him definite upside, but he did only complete 52 percent of his passes in five games last season.

Flacco has had a great career, but he’s clearly near the end of it now. Although he can still make plays if pressed into action, his role seems better suited as a veteran backup now. 

Minshew, then, becomes direct competition for Hurts. At 25, he still has upside as well, and he’s already played more and been more productive than Hurts in his career. He’s completed 63 percent of his passes with 37 touchdown passes and 11 interceptions in 20 games. 

The Eagles invested a second-round pick in Hurts last year, and have frequently talked about his upside. Still, they have also been trying to replace him from the moment he entered the lineup. They’ve been one of the teams rumored to be interested in trading for Houston’s DeShaun Watson and gave Flacco an open opportunity to beat out Hurts in the preseason.

Hurts won that job, though. The team officially named him their week one starter.

Sirianni, for what it’s worth, added that he saw a marked improvement in Hurts from the start of camp until the end of the preseason, during which the former Alabama standout played minimally.

“I consistently saw a player that got better every single day,” coach Nick Sirianni told CBS Sports. “I consistently saw a player make the read, getting better with his reads and his accuracy and his ability to run and when not to run … He did exactly what we wanted him to do. Again, nobody else has worked with the ones, so you could really argue that we named a starter a while ago. Jalen will be our starter, and he’s earned that right with a great preseason, and we’ve got a lot of confidence in him and in that room in general.”

That seems like high praise for Hurts’ performance and improvement. And yet … here’s Minshew suddenly on the roster. CBS analyst Will Brinson expects Minshew to get some starts for the Eagles this season, and that is easy to envision if Hurts struggles with his accuracy and consistency. 

Hurts will have some time to make Minshew’s presence simply added depth rather than competition, though. He’ll need to learn Philadelphia’s offense and, if Hurts gets off to a good start, the pressure to audition other quarterbacks will likely fade. Flacco’s presence also means Minshew will probably be the third quarterback on the team for a while as he gets up to speed on the offense. 

In the best case scenario for the Eagles, Hurts will prove the team was right to name him its starter and Minshew becomes a valuable trade asset as teams like the Broncos, Washington, Colts, Dolphins, and others could be in the market for quarterback depth or even a new starter as the season goes on.