Jags send Minshew to Eagles for a pick
Minshew Mania is on the move.
The Jacksonville Jaguars traded backup quarterback Gardner Minshew to Philadelphia on Saturday for a conditional draft pick in 2022. The Jaguars received a sixth-round pick that would become a fifth-rounder if Minshew plays 50% of snaps in three games.
Minshew joins a QB room that already has starter Jalen Hurts and veteran backup Joe Flacco. The Eagles cut third-string quarterback Nick Mullens to make room for Minshew.
Former Jaguars general manager Dave Caldwell, who drafted Minshew in the sixth round in 2019, now serves as a personnel executive in Philadelphia.
The Jaguars first put Minshew on the trading block around the draft, but then coach Urban Meyer had him splitting repetitions with No. 1 overall pick Trevor Lawrence when training camp opened. Lawrence was named the team’s starter Wednesday, and Meyer said Minshew would compete for the backup role with C.J. Beathard.
Minshew was a two-year starter in Jacksonville, going 7-13 in 20 starts. He has completed 63% of his passes for 5,530 yards, 37 touchdowns and 11 interceptions.
He started 12 games in 2019, putting up better overall numbers than fellow rookies Kyler Murray and Daniel Jones and creating a “Minshew Mania” buzz around the city and parts of the country. He was good enough that then-jaguars coach Doug Marrone and Caldwell gave him a chance to prove he could end Jacksonville’s decades-long search for a franchise quarterback.
Minshew started the first seven games in 2020, throwing 13 touchdown passes and five interceptions, but he also took 22 sacks.
The bottom line: Minshew has shown more flaws than flashes since early in his rookie year. He’s a 6-foot-1 quarterback with an average arm and average mobility. And no one really expected him to get the nod over Lawrence, widely considered the best QB prospect since Andrew Luck.
Titans’ COVID outbreak grows.
NASHVILLE, TENN.» Tennessee coach Mike Vrabel will miss the Titans’ preseason finale a week after testing positive for COVID-19, and a pair of coaches and another player have joined the protocols as the team’s outbreak grows.
Special teams coach Craig Aukerman, who missed a couple of practices under the NFL’S COVID-19 protocols, returned for Saturday night’s game with Chicago. But wide receiver coach Rob Moore and offensive line assistant Jason Houghtaling missed the game because of the virus protocols.
Rookie wide receiver Racey Mcmath also was placed on the reserve/covid-19 list Saturday. That makes him the seventh player currently on the list and 12th player or coach either placed on the reserve list or following the COVID-19 protocols since Vrabel announced he had tested positive a week ago. Giants LB Anderson will miss 6 games over perfromance enhancers. EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J.» The NFL has suspended New York Giants linebacker Ryan Anderson for the first six games of the regular season for violating the league policy on performance enhancers.