The Jacksonville Jaguars hired former Washington Redskins head coach Jay Gruden to be their offensive coordinator, That is good news for Gardner Minshew who can turn into a star with his leadership. The Jaguars had hired John DeFilippo last offseason to be the offensive coordinator and one of the big reasons was probably his work with Nick Foles.
Gruden has no connections to either Foles or Minshew, so it should be a true quarterback battle. Foles has proven even with the big contract, he isn't the future to lead this team, so the team should turn the team over to Minshew. One thing Doug Marrone said that brought him to Gruden was his ability to work with different quarterbacks.
“There is diversity, there is different kinds of quarterbacks that he has worked with, whether it be younger guys that are developing, a guy that might have been in the league a couple years developing and a veteran guy,” Marrone said via the Jaguars team website. “You look for that.”
During the 2019 season, Minshew played in 14 games starting 12 of them. He completed 285 for 3271 yards, 21 touchdowns, and six interceptions. He also was a threat running the ball racking up 67 carries for 344 yards.
Gruden runs a west coast style of offense, and that is something Foles has run before but there is one big limitation in his game, his legs. Foles has played in 58 games during his career and he has 390 yards total on the ground. In his limited run with the Jaguars, he rushed four times for four yards.
Gruden likes a quarterback who is mobile to run his offense, and Minshew has the legs to be the perfect fit. When DeFilippo was running the offense he seemed to be a little stuck in his ways and wouldn't change to play to Minshew's strengths.
Most of Minshew's rushing yards came from plays he scrambled on, not plays that we're called to be run. Gruden should call more running plays, which is something the defense will have to scheme against and open up the field for more throwing.
If the team was smart they would name Gardner Minshew the starters before the offseason really gets going. That would allow Minshew to really focus on learning the offense and getting a good feel of what Jay Gruden is looking for, without having to worry about if he will have to be the starting quarterback or the backup.
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