Philadelphia Eagles: The case for keeping Gardner Minshew in 2022

(Photo by Steven Ryan/Getty Images)
(Photo by Steven Ryan/Getty Images) /
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It’s a Sunday without Philadelphia Eagles football, and the greater Delaware Valley is in a funk… assuming you aren’t a fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers, New York Jets, or *gasp* the Dallas Cowboys.

The players, coaches, and even social media team are on vacation, the Linc’s parking lot is eerily empty, and more than a few fans have to look for something else to do on this otherwise uneventful – literally – Sunday without football. Should they go Christmas shopping? Buy a new video game? Try a new cheesesteak shop? The possibilities are as limitless as they are daunting, with one notable exception being watching the Eagles play.

Well, fear not, Philly fans, for Ian Rapoport swooped in with a take that should keep more than a few football fans engaged for the final hours of the weekend: Jalen Hurts is back at quarterback.

I know, technically this shouldn’t be news, as Nick Sirianni echoed the exact same sentiment in his postgame media availability following the win over the Jets, but hidden within that reiteration is some juicy red meat meant to raise a few eyebrows, namely that the Eagles will surely draw trade interest for Gardner Minshew in 2022.

Here’s why the Philadelphia Eagles bailing on the mustachio’d quarterback would be a bad idea.

If the Philadelphia Eagles trade Gardner Minshew, what’s the backup plan?

Gardner Minshew is a top-40 quarterback in the NFL today.

While he can conceivably start and successfully run an offense when it’s tuned to his strengths – see the Philadelphia Eagles’ performance in Week 13 – his on-field limitations make the margin for error, and the requisite talent needed around him, hard to justify.

With that being said, Minshew is undoubtedly a dude with past game-winning experience, good on-field efficiency, and a pension for keeping morale high. Even if there are three dozen or so better quarterbacks in the league today, what are the chances another one becomes available to serve as QB2 on the Eagles’ roster?

To put it simply: If you trade Gardner Minshew, who are the Philadelphia Eagles landing to replace him?

Now sure, to some, this answer is obvious: A first-round quarterback. Kenny Pickett is surging like crazy in the scouting community, Matt Corral has all of the physical tools to flash “Josh Allen”-vibes, Desmond Ridder is next year’s small-school guy made good, and Auburn-turned-Liberty quarterback Malik Willis might just be the most comparable quarterback to what the Eagles have under center right now, only with a bigger arm. If the Eagles opt to go down that path, signing another Joe Flacco-type as QB3 with Hurts competing for the starting spot opposite one of those rookies makes a ton of sense, but who is to say that will happen? Would the Eagles trade Minshew to a QB-needy team in March without a guarantee that the guy they like will still be there in April?

That’s a risky ask.

And how about the trade market? Russell Wilson has long been Howie Roseman’s white whale since failing to secure his services in the 2012 NFL Draft, and even at 33, he could realistically lead the Eagles’ offense for the next half-decade. If he somehow lands in Philly and Hurts remains in place as QB2, then it might make more sense to employ a Day 3 draftee or even a UDFA as the team’s backup backup quarterback instead of a 25-year-old in the final year of his rookie contract.

Are either of those opportunities possible? Yes, but are either probably? No, I’d venture to say they aren’t.

No, realistically speaking, the Eagles will probably roll into the offseason with Hurts slotted in at QB1, Minshew at QB2, and a player drafted in, say the fourth round, added to develop under Nick Sirianni in the #quarterbackfactory.

Why? Because Hurts has shown enough promise to garner a longer look, there isn’t a sure thing in this year’s draft class, especially where the Eagles will be picking, and opposing teams will likely at best offer a Day 3 draft pick for Minshew’s services, which doesn’t really tip the scales enough to make such a move worthwhile, much to the chagrin of the quarterback in question.

If the Eagles were to trade Minshew, they’d be looking at a free agent quarterback market headline by Teddy Bridgewater, Ryan Fitzpatrick, and Marcus Mariota. While one could argue that all three of those players are better on-field options than Minshew, they will all surely cost more to sign than the pride of Washington State’s current sub-$1 million cap hit, without the long-term upside to develop into a long-term starter.

Unless Roseman really likes what he saw from Bridgewater in Week 10, it’d probably be best to roll with Minshew, Hurts, and a third quarterback and see if someone differentiats themselves from the pack over a full summer of organized football activities.

Next. Marcus Epps has turned into a player for the Philadelphia Eagles. dark

Who knows, maybe I’m wrong. Maybe Howie Roseman will make a huge trade on the first day of the 2022 NFL calendar year, or the team will draft a quarterback like Matt Corral, and they’ll exchange one of their current quarterbacks for future draft capital later on draft weekend. But right now, neither of those possibilities feel as likely as the Philadelphia Eagles simply holding the line with their current crop of QBs and retooling their roster with better position players. Either way, props to Ian Rapoport for providing some fun conversational material on this a weekend without Philly football.