Eagles Trade for Gardner Minshew, Cut Nick Mullens

The former Jaguars QB will likely serve as QB3 behind Jalen Hurts and Joe Flacco

The Eagles saw enough of Nick Mullens to know he wasn’t going to help them this year.

Maybe Gardner Minshew will.

The team traded for the Jacksonville quarterback on Saturday morning, sending the Jaguars a conditional sixth-round pick in the 2022 draft.

The conditional pick is a sixth that can turn into a fifth if Minshew plays 50 percent of snaps in three games.

Minshew was expendable with the Jaguars drafting Trevor Lawrence with the first overall pick this past spring. C.J. Beathard will now likely be Lawrence's backup.

The deal came just hours after the Eagles and New York Jets played to a 31-31 tie on Friday night, a game in which Mullens failed to execute short throws on a third-and-one misfire to Elijah Holyfield and, on another series, failing to hit Jack Stoll on a third-and-three. Both players were open.

But it was more than just two throws.

Mullens struggled with accuracy throughout training camp and the preseason, perhaps still finding his form after offseason elbow surgery despite admitting early in camp that he was 100 percent.

He had two interceptions against the Steelers then another vs. the Patriots. He was slightly better against the Jets, but his throws were typically of the checkdown variety as he finished 10-for-14 for 98 yards.

Minshew started 23 games the past two seasons for the Jaguars, going 7-13 with 37 touchdowns and 11 interceptions.

With Minshew, 25, in the fold, it appears the Eagles will keep three quarterbacks on their 53-man roster, especially after investing $3.5 million in Flacco and sending a draft pick away for Minshew.

Flacco, who, at 36, is 11 years older than Minshew, is still presumably the Eagles' No. 2 quarterback. He completed 13 of 16 passes for 188 yards and two touchdowns against the Jets in a half of action.

Still, becoming a backup is something Flacco sad afterward he is still getting used to.

“Before last year, I hadn’t had a lot of experience at that, and it is different,” he said. “You have to make sure attack the early parts of the week just as if you were the starter even though you’re not going to be able to get the reps. The biggest thing is making sure you feel prepared going into the game without getting the reps throughout the practice week.

“That’s nothing to be taken lightly. You have to work your tail off and approach it the right way. As long as I do that throughout the week, and I know I will, I can go into Sunday feeling confident that I’m prepared and if something happens, that’s what you’re there for.”

Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s Eagle Maven and co-host of the Eagles Unfiltered Podcast. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles or www.eaglemaven.com and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.