ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Last Friday while talking away on a podcast, Gardner Minshew II told the story of how he purposely tried to break his throwing hand in the name of a medical redshirt.
The day before he told his story, Minshew had thrown two touchdown passes to lead the Jacksonville Jaguars past the Tennessee Titans, 20-7.
The broken hand attempt happened when he was at East Carolina, his third of four colleges. He was told the next game he played in would burn his year of eligibility. A unique thinking sort, he took a hammer and a bottle of Jack Daniels and — whack, whack, whack — hit his throwing hand three times.
"One hundred percent, man,’’ he said during a conference call Wednesday with the Denver media. “I don't tell a lie."
He knew his hand wasn’t broken, so he made two more attempts with the Jack Daniels and hammer.
"I didn't break it,’’ he said. “I tried. It was an attempt to break it. It was sore as hell. That was about it."
He played the next game for East Carolina and played well. Now, the legend of Gardner Minshew II is growing to cult-like proportions.
This week, Minshew Mania will do Mile High as his Jaguars play the Broncos.
"It's just doesn't really change anything with me,’’ he said of his growing fame. “I still show up here at the same time, I leave at the same time. The same thing as always, it doesn't really affect me. More than anything, it's just noise."
He’s played surprisingly well for the Jags. He came off the bench early in the season opener for the injured Nick Foles and completed 22 of 25 for 275 yards and two touchdowns against the Kansas City Chiefs.
He played well again in defeat the following week at Houston. After throwing a touchdown pass with 36 seconds left to bring the score to 13-12, the 2-point rush attempt was stopped.
Then Minshew completed 20 of 30 on Thursday night to beat the Titans.
“Quick decision maker, sees the field well,’’ said Broncos head coach Vic Fangio. “Just another guy — quarterback being the most important position there is, but it seems to be the hardest position to evaluate. This guy going in the sixth-round, he should have gone much higher than that.”
Minshew didn’t fall in the draft — maybe a round. But he went pretty much where he was expected to go despite a sensational senior season at Washington State.
"I'm 6-1, I don't run very fast, don't have a super strong arm,’’ Minshew said. “That's kind of what people's drafts are on nowadays. I know I'm right where I'm supposed to be, I wasn't supposed to go on a higher round, I wasn't supposed to go to any other team. I'm right where I'm supposed to be and I couldn't be more grateful to be here."
