The Jacksonville Jaguars have raised more questions than answers regarding their quarterback room thanks to their latest move on Wednesday, signing C.J. Beathard to a reported two-year, $5 million deal.
Jacksonville has the No. 1 pick in the draft and is expected to select Trevor Lawrence with the top selection. Lawrence is primed to be the starting quarterback, which would have left Gardner Minshew in line for the No. 2 role. The Beathard signing puts Minshew's future with the Jaguars on hold.
Jaguars head coach Urban Meyer admitted the team has no plans to trade Minshew at the moment, but that could all change now that Beathard is on the roster. Meyer even admitted he wanted to have more time with Minshew before ultimately making a decision on his future.
"This is all kind of new to me," Meyer said. "I'm used to spending about five, six hours a day with our quarterback. January, February, that's the days you get your quarterback ready to go. You can't do that in the NFL. There's a lot of anticipation about the first pick. I understand there's a lot of conversation out there, but there's been no decisions made.
"Gardner's done some very good things here in Jacksonville and he's a competitive maniac, which I really appreciate about him. So, there's been no decisions made. (Tuesday) was the first lengthy meeting we had and we're going to continue that here for the next few weeks."
What Minshew is actually worth is up for debate. Minshew completed 66.1% of his passes last season for 2,259 yards with 16 touchdowns to five interceptions, finishing with a quarterback rating of 95.9. He has started 20 games for the Jaguars over his two NFL seasons, completing 62.9% of his passes with 37 touchdowns and 11 interceptions (93.1 rating). Minshew is 25th in the league in completion percentage, 20th in touchdowns, and and fourth in interception percentage (1.38) since entering the league in 2019. His 93.1 passer rating is the 12th highest for a quarterback after their first two seasons (minimum 500 attempts).
A former sixth-round pick, the Jaguars would be more than satisfied if they could get anything higher for Minshew at this point. The Jaguars don't have a lot of leverage here, even if Minshew has valuable starting experience for a team that needs a No. 1 quarterback.
