The Las Vegas Raiders have a starting quarterback with Gardner Minshew but that might not necessarily be the most exciting thing. He's only been a Week 1 starter once in career and went 1-7 before getting benched.
Minshew has proven to be a scrappy player and can win games when he has talent around him. However, his ceiling is limited. Mike Sando of The Athletic recently put every quarterback in the NFL in tiers and Minshew was listed in Tier 4. One coach was very critical of the quarterback.
“Nobody wants him to be a starter, probably even his own team, but he won games with Indy last year,” the offensive coach told Sando. “When you play him, the kid is competitive. He will keep you in the game — and them. It’s going to be a fight.”
Minshew is exactly who a team wants as a backup quarterback but it's tough to go far with him as a starter. While not many are high on his ceiling, there is a lot of respect for him around the league.
“Gardner Minshew is a real gutsy player,” a defensive coordinator told Sando. “Everybody on the team is going to love him. He is going to extend plays with his legs. He’s smart. He will be able to function in the offense. But he’s just limited.”
At the very least, Minshew will be fun and he doesn't turn the ball over a ton. He's a good player and it's possible he may finally thrive now that he's surrounded by some very good offensive weapons. It's hard to see the Raiders making a deep playoff run with him at quarterback but it's not impossible to see him doing enough to get them to the playoffs.
That said, Minshew won't have the longest leash. He only narrowly beat out Aidan O'Connell for the starting job. If he gets off to a rough start, there's a good chance O'Connell will get a chance to start some games.