Gardner Minshew, Two Other Jaguars Ruled Out Vs. Texans

Gardner Minshew, Dakota Allen and Devine Ozigbo will be out in Week 9 against the Texans.

Three Jacksonville Jaguars have been ruled out for the team's Week 9 clash with divisional foe Houston Texans at TIAA Bank Field on Sunday, including the expected out status of starting quarterback Gardner Minshew. 

Minshew has been expected to be ruled out all week due to a right thumb injury. Minshew started the first seven games of the season for the Jaguars but will now be inactive for the first time in his career. Rookie quarterback Jake Luton will start in his place.

Along with Minshew, running back Devine Ozigbo (hamstring) and linebacker Dakota Allen (ankle) are also out. Rookie linebacker Shaquille Quarterman is questionable with a knee injury. 

With these three players being ruled out, it means the Jaguars (1-6) will enter Sunday with several key layers returning from injury. Linebacker Myles Jack, safety Jarrod Wilson and tight end Tyler Eifert will all be available for the Jaguars after the trio missed Week 7 against the Los Angeles Chargers. 

With Minshew officially out at quarterback, 2020 is the third straight year in which the Jaguars have started two different quarterbacks during the regular season. Blake Bortles started 12 games while Cody Kessler started the other four in 2018. In 2019, Nick Foles started four games while Minshew started 12.

It remains to be seen how much time Minshew will miss with the thumb injury, which Adam Schefter of ESPN reported occurred during the Week 5 loss to the Houston Texans on Oct. 11, almost a month ago. Through seven games Minshew has completed 65.9% of his passes for 1,855 yards (6.9 yards per attempt) with 13 touchdowns and five interceptions. 

Jaguars head coach said on Monday that as of now, there are no plans to place the second-year quarterback on injured reserve.

“No, not at the moment no. I don’t think it’s going to be that. My conversation with Gardner [Minshew II] was, ‘Hey listen, I want to make sure that you’re 100 percent and when you’re 100 percent, I want to see you out on that field and I want to make sure I’m seeing the throws and things that you made when we were in training camp and in the beginning of the year,’" Marrone said Monday.

"I said, ‘Don’t try to come out there and say you feel good and you go out there and you’re not throwing the ball well.’ We’re just working to get him back to 100 percent. I don’t know what the time frame is, I really don’t.