With Gardner Minshew entering the season as their starter, the Raiders have the most underwhelming quarterback situation in the league. Maybe he’s better right now than Bryce Young, Will Levis and Drake Maye, but at least those guys are youngsters, with some chance of getting better. Similarly, there’s at least some possibility Deshaun Watson can turn things around. And maybe Sam Darnold is better than he has seemed to be thus far.
With Minshew, he’s very much a placeholder quarterback. The Raiders will be in the market for a new starter next spring.
While expectations are modest for this passing game, however, Minshew has at least demonstrated some ability to operate an offense. Michael Pittman, as Exhibit A, got a lot better last year after Minshew took over. Pittman averaged 8.1 catches for 85 yards in his nine full games with the veteran at quarterback. So some chance, apparently, that Davante Adams and Jakobi Meyers can catch some balls. Maybe Brock Bowers as well.
And Minshew has played well enough that it’s reasonable to ponder whether he might be able to outperform 5-10 of the other starters around the league. He’ll run some, and he’s had some success in different offenses in different cities. He’s 28.
Over the last four years, Minshew has averaged 245 passing yards in the 25 games he’s started, with 36 touchdowns versus 18 interceptions. He’s scored 5 touchdowns on his own in those games.
Since 2020, 35 quarterbacks have started at least 25 games. Minshew has been slightly more productive overall than over half of those guys. (He ranks 13th in passing yards, and 20th in TD passes.)
I won’t talk up Minshew too much. (I think he’ll be benched for Aidan O’Connell at some point.) But in Superflex leagues, where it’s a plus if you can land three quarterbacks, some team will be happy to land Minshew for that third QB role.
QUARTERBACKS PER GAME (last 4 yrs) | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Rk | Player | St | Pass | TDP | Int | Run | TDR | Pts |
1. | Josh Allen | 66 | 265.8 | 2.08 | .86 | 37.4 | .56 | 28.9 |
2. | Patrick Mahomes | 65 | 292.5 | 2.20 | .69 | 22.1 | .12 | 26.6 |
3. | Jalen Hurts | 51 | 228.0 | 1.29 | .65 | 47.5 | .80 | 26.2 |
4. | Kyler Murray | 49 | 243.4 | 1.51 | .69 | 38.9 | .45 | 25.0 |
5. | Lamar Jackson | 55 | 210.2 | 1.51 | .65 | 61.0 | .31 | 24.6 |
6. | Dak Prescott | 50 | 273.6 | 2.10 | .76 | 13.3 | .16 | 24.6 |
7. | Tom Brady | 50 | 292.9 | 2.16 | .66 | 1.7 | .12 | 24.3 |
8. | Justin Herbert | 62 | 277.8 | 1.84 | .68 | 14.7 | .18 | 23.9 |
9. | Joe Burrow | 52 | 270.8 | 1.87 | .71 | 11.6 | .19 | 23.4 |
10. | Deshaun Watson | 28 | 251.4 | 1.68 | .57 | 27.2 | .18 | 23.4 |
11. | Kirk Cousins | 57 | 269.5 | 2.02 | .68 | 6.9 | .07 | 22.9 |
12. | Aaron Rodgers | 50 | 242.2 | 2.22 | .42 | 6.9 | .14 | 22.6 |
13. | Russell Wilson | 60 | 232.0 | 1.78 | .63 | 21.9 | .17 | 22.0 |
14. | Matthew Stafford | 57 | 263.5 | 1.77 | .81 | 4.0 | .02 | 20.9 |
15. | Justin Fields | 38 | 173.8 | 1.05 | .76 | 57.5 | .34 | 20.8 |
16. | Geno Smith | 35 | 242.2 | 1.54 | .57 | 15.4 | .09 | 20.5 |
17. | Gardner Minshew | 25 | 244.7 | 1.44 | .72 | 10.1 | .20 | 20.4 |
18. | Jared Goff | 63 | 257.3 | 1.56 | .63 | 4.4 | .10 | 20.3 |
19. | Carson Wentz | 37 | 215.6 | 1.49 | .86 | 17.1 | .22 | 20.2 |
20. | Tua Tagovailoa | 51 | 244.5 | 1.59 | .73 | 7.5 | .10 | 20.0 |
21. | Trevor Lawrence | 50 | 235.4 | 1.16 | .78 | 19.3 | .22 | 19.8 |
22. | Ryan Tannehill | 53 | 217.7 | 1.34 | .64 | 13.4 | .32 | 19.7 |
23. | Ben Roethlisberger | 31 | 243.3 | 1.77 | .65 | .5 | .03 | 19.6 |
24. | Derek Carr | 65 | 250.9 | 1.52 | .69 | 6.0 | .05 | 19.6 |
25. | Matt Ryan | 45 | 257.9 | 1.33 | .80 | 5.4 | .09 | 19.4 |
26. | Daniel Jones | 47 | 201.8 | .81 | .60 | 34.8 | .23 | 18.4 |
27. | Teddy Bridgewater | 31 | 224.1 | 1.10 | .61 | 12.6 | .23 | 18.3 |
28. | Taylor Heinicke | 28 | 209.7 | 1.25 | .89 | 17.9 | .11 | 17.9 |
29. | Baker Mayfield | 57 | 217.5 | 1.37 | .68 | 9.5 | .07 | 17.8 |
30. | Jimmy Garoppolo | 37 | 226.9 | 1.32 | .81 | 3.9 | .11 | 17.7 |
31. | Andy Dalton | 30 | 219.9 | 1.33 | .87 | 8.5 | .00 | 17.2 |
32. | Sam Darnold | 30 | 195.9 | .87 | .90 | 18.4 | .33 | 17.2 |
33. | Davis Mills | 26 | 216.6 | 1.23 | .92 | 5.5 | .08 | 16.9 |
34. | Mac Jones | 42 | 212.3 | 1.10 | .86 | 7.8 | .02 | 16.0 |
35. | Zach Wilson | 33 | 186.5 | .67 | .73 | 14.9 | .15 | 14.6 |
—Ian Allan