Player
Gardner Minshew
QB
Career counting stats define what a QB has actually delivered, not what he was drafted to be. Minshew's 11,987 yards on a 6th-round contract is well above the noise floor for that draft slot — the position usually washes those guys out by year three.
7-year career, 5 teams, 11,987 passing yards, 68 TDs. The mustache made the legend, the production made it real.
MilestoneGardner Minshew career regular-season totals
| Stat | Total |
|---|---|
| Seasons | 7 |
| Teams | 5 |
| Games | 62 |
| Attempts | 1,742 |
| Completions | 1,100 |
| Comp % | 63.1 |
| Yards | 11,987 |
| TDs | 68 |
| INTs | 35 |
| TD/INT | 1.94 |
Why it matters. Career counting stats define what a QB has actually delivered, not what he was drafted to be. Minshew's 11,987 yards on a 6th-round contract is well above the noise floor for that draft slot — the position usually washes those guys out by year three.
JAX 2019 sensation -> PHI backup -> IND 2023 starter -> LV 2024 starter -> KC 2025 backup. Five teams in seven years.
TrendGardner Minshew career arc (REG-season games and yards by team)
| Phase | Year(s) | Team | G | Yds | TDs | INTs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rookie sensation | 2019 | JAX | 14 | 3,271 | 21 | 6 |
| Lost the job to Lawrence | 2020 | JAX | 9 | 2,259 | 16 | 5 |
| Hurts backup | 2021-22 | PHI | 9 | 1,102 | 7 | 4 |
| Indy starter | 2023 | IND | 16 | 3,305 | 15 | 9 |
| Raiders starter | 2024 | LV | 10 | 2,013 | 9 | 10 |
| KC backup | 2025 | KC | 4 | 37 | 0 | 1 |
Why it matters. An NFL career arc tells you what kind of player a guy actually is: starter, bridge, or roster filler. Minshew's path — two seasons of real starter production sandwiched around three years of backup duty — is the textbook journeyman QB curve, not a star path that fizzled.
His best two seasons came as a backup pressed into duty — 2019 JAX (Foles injury) and 2023 IND (Richardson injury).
SplitMinshew injury-replacement seasons vs other years
| Year | Team | Context | Yds | TDs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | JAX | Foles inj. | 3,271 | 21 |
| 2023 | IND | Richardson inj. | 3,305 | 15 |
| 2020 | JAX | Lost job to Lawrence | 2,259 | 16 |
| 2024 | LV | Named starter, benched | 2,013 | 9 |
Why it matters. When a QB's best work consistently comes off the bench, it tells you something about role fit: he plays better with low expectations and a simplified plan than as the named starter under a full install. That's a real, repeatable pattern for Minshew — two of his three 3,000-yard seasons came as the injury fill-in.
Best TD/INT ratio in the 2019 rookie QB class — Minshew's 21:6 (3.50) beat first-rounders Kyler Murray and Daniel Jones by a mile.
Rare2019 rookie-year passing — QBs from the 2019 draft class (100+ attempts)
| QB | Att | Yds | TDs | INTs | TD/INT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gardner Minshew (6th rd) | 470 | 3,271 | 21 | 6 | 3.50 |
| Drew Lock (2nd rd) | 156 | 1,020 | 7 | 3 | 2.33 |
| Daniel Jones (1st rd, #6) | 459 | 3,027 | 24 | 12 | 2.00 |
| Kyler Murray (1st rd, #1) | 542 | 3,722 | 20 | 12 | 1.67 |
| Dwayne Haskins (1st rd, #15) | 203 | 1,365 | 7 | 7 | 1.00 |
| David Blough (UDFA) | 174 | 984 | 4 | 6 | 0.67 |
| Devlin Hodges (UDFA) | 160 | 1,063 | 5 | 8 | 0.63 |
Why it matters. Rookie TD/INT ratio is a clean signal of decision-making under fire — early-career QBs who avoid INTs at this rate usually have either elite processing or a coach willing to keep the menu small. Minshew's 3.50 as a 6th-rounder beating three first-rounders in the same draft is the kind of pre-snap discipline that explained the second contract.
His 2024 LV season produced 10 INTs in 10 games — more INTs than he'd thrown in any prior year, while playing fewer games than two of them.
AnomalyMinshew interceptions per season (REG)
| Season | INTs |
|---|---|
| 2019 | 6 |
| 2020 | 5 |
| 2021 | 1 |
| 2022 | 3 |
| 2023 | 9 |
| 2024 | 10 |
| 2025 | 1 |
INT rate by season (per attempt)
| Season | Team | G | Att | INTs | INT % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | JAX | 14 | 470 | 6 | 1.3 |
| 2020 | JAX | 9 | 327 | 5 | 1.5 |
| 2021 | PHI | 3 | 60 | 1 | 1.7 |
| 2022 | PHI | 6 | 76 | 3 | 3.9 |
| 2023 | IND | 16 | 490 | 9 | 1.8 |
| 2024 | LV | 10 | 306 | 10 | 3.3 |
| 2025 | KC | 4 | 13 | 1 | 7.7 |
Why it matters. INT rate is the cleanest measure of QB decision-making relative to volume — and a sustained spike usually precedes a job change. Minshew's 2024 INT% more than doubled his rookie rate, the bench came, and the next year he was a backup. The chart is the timeline of how a starting job got given back.
Career yards vs the 2019 QB draft class: Minshew (11,987) trails the two first-rounders, but laps every other QB taken in that draft.
Comparison2019 draft class QB career totals (REG, 100+ career attempts)
| QB | Round | Seasons | Att | Yds | TDs | INTs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kyler Murray | 1st (#1) | 7 | 2,975 | 20,597 | 121 | 62 |
| Daniel Jones | 1st (#6) | 7 | 2,687 | 18,119 | 91 | 56 |
| Gardner Minshew | 6th (#178) | 7 | 1,742 | 11,987 | 68 | 35 |
| Drew Lock | 2nd | 6 | 970 | 6,369 | 34 | 28 |
| Dwayne Haskins | 1st (#15) | 2 | 444 | 2,804 | 12 | 14 |
| Jake Browning | UDFA | 3 | 368 | 2,707 | 18 | 15 |
Why it matters. Career-yardage rank within a single draft class is the closest the data gets to 'what was this pick worth.' Minshew at #178 producing more yards than 5 of the 6 QBs taken before him from that class is the kind of value that defines successful late-round QB picks.
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