Gardner Minshew II might get a chance to relive the “Minshew Mania” from his Jacksonville days this weekend with the Philadelphia Eagles.
News broke Monday that Jalen Hurts might not play in the key Christmas Eve game against the Dallas Cowboys because of a sprained right throwing shoulder. If so, Minshew is in line to start for the first time since Week 18 last season.
He also started a Week 13 game a season ago as Hurts dealt with a sprained ankle.
There aren’t many teams that can withstand the loss of an MVP-level player at QB, but the Eagles (13-1) built a great team around Hurts. That should give them no problem staying afloat if Hurts is to miss multiple games.
Per ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the Eagles and Hurts’ agent, Nicole Lynn, are optimistic the injury isn’t season-ending. That gives the team even more reason to sit him this weekend. Teams pay backup QBs for this very reason: to fill in when the starter isn’t close to 100% healthy.
Plus, the Eagles have a history of playing well when an MVP front-runner at QB suffers an injury in the middle of a playoff run. Nick Foles went from backup to Super Bowl-winning starting QB in the span of months during the 2017 season following MVP candidate Carson Wentz’s season-ending ACL injury.
In a bit of a full-circle moment, Minshew took over the starting job in Jacksonville from Foles after the former Eagles QB suffered a collarbone injury in Week 1 of the 2019 season.
The first time Minshew started in place of an injured starter he took the league by storm.
Minshew has an 8-14 record in 22 starts. For his career, he is 544-for-861 (63.2%) for 6,003 yards with 41 touchdowns and 12 interceptions.
He has a lot more talent to work with in Philadelphia than he did in Jacksonville and could position himself for a starting role in 2023 with a promising audition against the Cowboys.
The hype surrounding Minshew once was described as “Mania,” but it’s perfectly sane to believe the Eagles backup can keep them flying in the direction of a Super Bowl.
