The Colts signed former Jaguars and Eagles quarterback Gardner Minshew yesterday. It's an interesting landing spot, what with the Colts not currently having a viable starter. Indy's new head coach worked with Minshew in Philadelphia last year.
The Colts are sitting at No. 4 in the upcoming NFL Draft, so it's not a given they'll be able to select a quarterback they like. Most believe there are four top incoming rookies -- Bryce Young, C.J. Stroud, Will Levis and Anthony Richardson, in some order -- and it's possible three will be gone before the Colts get to pick, and not a given they even like that many.
If they don't select a passer there (and possibly even if they do), Minshew could be their starter this season. The Colts have Nick Foles and Sam Ehlinger under contract, but Foles might be released in the upcoming days and Ehlinger flopped with his opportunity a year ago. So it's weird that Minshew was only able to sign a one-year, $3.5 million deal.
Using the contract data at spotrac.com, that's just barely average money even for a backup. Making some guesses as to how quarterback battles will shake out around the league, I count 13 projected backups who will make more money in 2023 than Minshew. That includes a number of lesser backups who have signed contracts in the past week. Jarrett Stidham ($5M), Sam Darnold ($4.5M), Mike White ($4M) and Drew Lock ($4M) are all getting more money to serve as No. 2 quarterbacks this year than possible starter Minshew? Weird.
| 2023 PROJECTED BACKUP QBS (TOP 20) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Quarterback | Team | Salary |
| Wilson | NYJ | $8,787,670 |
| Brissett | Was. | $8,000,000 |
| Trubisky | Pit. | $7,142,500 |
| Heinicke | Atl. | $7,000,000 |
| Taylor | NYG | $5,500,000 |
| Dalton | Car. | $5,000,000 |
| Stidham | Den. | $5,000,000 |
| Mariota | Phi. | $5,000,000 |
| Darnold | S.F. | $4,500,000 |
| White | Mia. | $4,000,000 |
| Winston | N.O. | $4,000,000 |
| Lock | Sea. | $4,000,000 |
| McCoy | Ari. | $3,750,000 |
| Minshew | Ind. | $3,500,000 |
| Keenum | Hou. | $3,125,000 |
| Huntley | Bal. | $2,627,000 |
| Walker | Chi. | $2,500,000 |
| Beathard | Jac. | $2,250,000 |
| Mullens | Min. | $2,000,000 |
| Stick | LAC | $1,800,000 |
Minshew had an up-and-down career in Jacksonville, and didn't win his fill-in starts with the Eagles late last year. But he's generally been productive, so it's odd that no team seemed to view him as a starting option. Not enough to pay him like it, at least. Here are his numbers from his last nine starts since 2020, five with Jacksonville and four with Philadelphia.
| GARDNER MINSHEW, LAST 9 STARTS | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Opp | Pass | TD | Run | TD |
| 2020 | at Cin. | 351 | 2 | 9 | 0 |
| 2020 | at Hou. | 301 | 2 | 18 | 0 |
| 2020 | Det. | 243 | 1 | 14 | 1 |
| 2020 | at LAC | 173 | 2 | 21 | 0 |
| 2020 | at Bal. | 226 | 2 | 9 | 0 |
| 2021 | at NYJ | 242 | 2 | 11 | 0 |
| 2021 | Dal. | 186 | 2 | 10 | 0 |
| 2022 | at Dal. | 355 | 2 | 5 | 1 |
| 2022 | N.O. | 274 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Avg | 261 | 1.8 | 11 | 0.2 | |
Maybe teams think he's a really limited guy, maybe they don't like the mustache, maybe he has a lousy agent. Whatever the case, it's weird to me that he'll make so little to be the Colts' backup -- or potential starter -- in 2023. I won't be surprised if he starts more games and has more success this season than literally every other projected No. 2 in the league.
--Andy Richardson