Jaguar Report

Joe Schobert, Gardner Minshew and the Interceptions That Are Benefiting the Jaguars

Jacksonville Jaguars linebacker Joe Schobert has become a problem for Gardner Minshew II in training camp...and that's good for both players and the Jags.

Kassidy Hill

Joe Schobert could easily have become a menace for Gardner Minshew II during the Jacksonville Jaguars fall camp. The middle linebacker, in his first offseason with the Jags, has made it a habit of picking off Minshew in drills and scrimmage.

Minshew, a second-year passer, hasn’t by any means become a turnover machine. By all accounts, he’s protected the ball well through the ramp-up period to the 2020 NFL season. But when he throws over the middle, Schobert is usually waiting. And the person benefiting from those interceptions the most?

Gardner Minshew.

“He’s definitely been eager to learn in those situations and doesn’t take [it] as a negative.”

Schobert explained to local media on Wednesday that the young quarterback has begun picking his brain, looking to take the interceptions—and more—as something from which to learn.

“A few times he’ll come up, not even when he does turnovers, just after practice in general. If there’s a look that we’re giving him and he doesn’t quite understand what we’re looking for, he’ll come up and ask what our thought process was in that certain look versus what they were doing.”

It’s not out of the realm of possibility that on the Jaguars practice fields, Schobert could be one of the best teachers for Minshew as he prepares for his first season as the entrenched starter. During his time with the Cleveland Browns, Schobert hauled in six interceptions. Four of them were in 2019 alone. He’s exhibited an ability to nab the turnovers in multiple ways as he now prepares for the 2020 season.

In one practice, Schobert sat in the middle of the field. He saw where the offense was going with the ball and smartly let his man get past him. Instead he waited and dared Minshew to throw his way. When the quarterback did just that, Schobert showed off hops to pluck the ball out of the air.

In a separate example—last Saturday’s scrimmage—Schobert disguised his coverage, baiting Minshew into thinking the middle of the field was open. Watching his eyes, the linebacker bided his time until the perfect moment, when he cut across and grabbed the interception in route to the endzone.

"I think it’s a combination [of] being in the right place at the right time and taking advantage of an opportunity when it presents itself. I know in college and a couple of my early years in the NFL, I had a couple of balls that I was able to get hands on and they just kind of squirted through. I remember a slant with Marcus Mariota hit me right in the hands and [I] dropped it.

"[There was also] a fumble recovery against the Washington Redskins that somehow just leaked out. So, you have to take advantage of the opportunities when they come your way because NFL quarterbacks aren’t giving them out like candy. Then last year, I was able to do that, take advantage of that, put myself in the right spot, and a lot of that putting yourself in the right spot comes with study in the game week.”

That study for game week is paying off not only for Schobert—who is turning into a ball hawk—but also for Gardner Minshew.

“I think it’s great to work together as a team, because I think that, a lot of times, offense looks at defense in a different way than they’re intending and vice versa I think defense looks at offense from a defensive perspective,” Minshew explained to reporters on Thursday.

Minshew (15) is picking the linebacker's brains during training camp. Mandatory Credit: Douglas DeFelice-USA TODAY Sports

“I think it’s good to kind of pick those guys’ brains and kind of get in, see what they’re seeing, see what they’re thinking, so that way it’ll help us. And vice versa, they come to me and try to figure out what we’re doing. I think just getting that understanding of defense from my point-of-view and offense from [Joe’s], I think it’s something that’s just going to help us moving forward.

“We just talked about specific coverages, and kind of where his drop is, what his eyes are doing, what his keys are. So, that helps me understand how certain concepts work against certain coverages and what we should really be attacking.”

With the season set to kick-off in just over a week, Joe Schobert and Gardner Minshew will continue their 1-on-1 battles in camp, in hopes the biggest recipient is the Jacksonville Jaguars. 

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Kassidy Hill
KASSIDY HILL

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