Gardner Minshew is No. 3 For Now

A "competitive maniac" just entered the Eagles' QB room

Timing ensures that Garner Minshew will start his tenure in Philadelphia as the No. 3 quarterback, something that was confirmed by both general manager Howie Roseman and head coach Nick Sirianni on Tuesday.

That's what happens when you are acquired less than two weeks before the regular-season opener.

"I think with Gardner coming in this late in camp and really after the preseason, I think his priority is just learning the system, really connecting with his teammates and his coaches," Roseman said. 

"We see his work ethic already. He's always around. He's always in the building. I think that's the first priority. Just seeing those guys out together, you see the three of them [Jalen Hurts, Joe Flacco, and Minshew] really connecting and getting to know each other. I think that's the priority right now."

Minshew's history, however, indicates that the former starter in Jacksonville isn't exactly going to be a shrinking violet when it comes to Sirianni's favorite buzzword: competition.

Heck, Minshew is so competitive he didn't see the writing on the wall with the Jaguars, a team so bad in 2020 that they were in position to get the No. 1 overall pick in the draft this spring, which just happened to be former Clemson star QB Trevor Lawrence, a player so gifted many talent evaluators declared him the best QB prospect since Andrew Luck.

Some even went back to Peyton Manning or even John Elway.

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Anyone reading this had the same odds as Minshew when it came to beating out Lawrence for the QB1 job with the Jags but Minshew never believed that should be the case.

“I’ll say this man, in preparation for the competition, I haven’t taken a shit in weeks,” Minshew now famously said on Green Light with Chris Long podcast. “Because number two isn’t an option for me. Number two is not an option.”

Stands to reason if No. 2 wasn't an option in Jacksonville with Lawrence as the roadblock, maybe No. 3 isn't going to sit well with lesser-valued personnel like Hurts and Flacco.

“It didn’t start off on the best of terms because I’m not sure how much he wanted to be here," Jacksonville coach Urban Meyer admitted when first meeting Minshew. "I get it. First overall pick [is here]. He’s a competitive maniac, that guy. And I get it.”

Competitive maniac sure sounds like it's right down Sirianni's alley and the Eagles' first-year coach didn't exactly sound like a guy who doesn't think Minshew can play.

"I've gotten to see him play in person two times a year for the past two years so that's four times," said the coach. "The first game up there last year we opened up the season at Jacksonville, and he was 19 of 20 against our defense and really played a good game. "I've watched him play some good games. He's the third, but I'm really excited to work with him."

For now, the Eagles have the luxury of learning a new system to lean on but whether the organization knows it or not, they unleashed a competitive manic on an unproven first-time starter.

"Gardner is a good teammate," Roseman said. "He knows it's about the team and it's about supporting the guys who are playing."

John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com's EagleMaven and is theNFL Insider for JAKIB Media. You can listen to John, alongside legendary sports-talk host Jody McDonald every morning from 8-10 on ‘Birds 365,” streaming live on both PhillyVoice.com and YouTube. John is also the host of his own show "Extending the Play" on AM1490 in South Jersey. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen

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.