Despite being a rookie and a sixth-round selection, Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Gardner Minshew II is slowly beginning to earn the respect of the NFL. Since taking over due to Nick Foles’ collarbone injury in Week 1, he’s gone 4-3 as a starter, won five Rookie of the Week awards and won Rookie of the Month for September. However, that respect seemingly hasn’t translated into the virtual world.
In Electronic Arts’ “Madden NFL 20” game, Minshew is oddly enough rated at a 69, which is among the lowest ratings for any starting quarterback in the league. However, upon finding out his rating, Minshew was as unfazed as he is on the field, though he did have some concerns about his speed.
Hey, that went much better than Leonard Fournette’s reaction to his rating.
All jokes aside, Minshew has greatly outplayed his rating. He’ll roll into Week 9 with a ton of momentum after putting up a career high in passing touchdowns (three) against the New York Jets. So far he has a 61.9 percent (161-of-260) completion rate for 1,976 passing yards, 13 touchdowns and just two interceptions, which is good for a 98.8 passer rating.
By comparison, first overall pick Kyler Murray, who has a 74 overall rating, is 186-of-292 (63.7 percent) for 1,988 yards, seven touchdowns and four picks, which is good for an 85.8 passer rating. I don’t know about you all, but those sound like pretty close stats to me, which should warrant Minshew at least being a 72 to 74 rating.
Ultimately, we’ll have to wait to see if EA updates Minshew’s rating down the road, but it’s pretty clear they need to re-evaluate him. If they want to do so, they’d better move fast as the Jags have a pending decision at the quarterback position with Foles eligible to return from injured reserve in Week 11.
