EAGLE FLIES HIGH
IF SUPER Bowl fancies the Philadelphia Eagles are to retain their No.1 seed in the NFC, they may have to turn to a man who was living out of a refurbished prisoner transport bus in the off-season.
A man whose namesake grandfather preferred he be named Beowulf instead. A man who once took a hammer to his own hand to ensure he would remain a redshirt in college.
And that doesn’t even scratch the surface of Gardner Minshew’s story.
If you haven’t heard of the former sixth-round NFL draft pick, it’s worth taking the time.
He’s the Uncle Rico lookalike – Fu Manchu moustache, mullet and all – who took the league by storm in 2019 when he broke a Jacksonville Jaguars franchise record for the most touchdowns thrown by a rookie QB in a season.
But it’s for everything other than his ability to throw a football that made him an instant cult hero – not just to Jags fans, but anyone with a passing interest in the NFL.
Now at the Eagles, if MVP candidate Jalen Hurts is forced to miss time with a sprained shoulder, his understudy Minshew will have to pilot the highpowered Philadelphia offence in his stead.
Next on the slate is a divisional game against fierce rivals the Dallas Cowboys on Christmas Eve, in what is undoubtedly the biggest regular season fixture on the Eagles’ calendar.
As recently as July, Minshew was sleeping on a throw rug next to a lava lamp outside a gym in Florida. For five months the man who earned the nickname ‘Jock Strap King’ from former teammate Leonard Fournette, for his penchant to work out in nothing but the infamous groin guard, lived out of a former inmate transport vehicle in the parking lot of his trainer’s gym in Bonita Springs.
His trainer didn’t take him seriously until he heard the ‘beep beep’ of the bus as it pulled in, and Minshew’s QB coach was more than sceptical about the veracity of a crosscountry road trip to prepare for an NFL season.
That’s all part of the Minshew Mania package.
When he left Florida in July to report for pre-season, the bus stayed behind. It’s still there – bright orange couch, shag throw pillows, lava lamp and all – waiting to be sold.
It’s not the first and likely won’t be the last headscratching move from Minshew, who has quickly redefined what it means to be a ‘character’ in the NFL.
But first and foremost he’s an NFL quarterback. And the Eagles’ bevy of Australian players will have to rely on him to lead the line should Hurts not be fit to face the Cowboys on Christmas Eve.
The Super Bowl dreams of Jordan Mailata, Arryn Siposs and Matt Leo are in the hands of a real-life Uncle Rico.
Can he throw a football over them mountains? Probably not.
But he’s shown on more than one occasion he can win in the NFL.
And a backs-against-thewall victory against the arch enemy would be the perfect Christmas present.