Butanmok: Jalen Hurts, Gardner Minshew finally become teammates

Quarterbacks Jalen Hurts and Gardner Minshew were supposed to be teammates at Alabama in 2018. That didn’t happen, but now they are on the same NFL team after the Philadelphia Eagles acquired Minshew on Saturday.

The Eagles have veteran Joe Flacco lined up behind Hurts as he enters his first season as a No. 1 quarterback. Philadelphia had former Spain Park High School star Nick Mullens as its No. 3 QB until Saturday, when the Eagles released Mullens and brought aboard Minshew in a trade with the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Philadelphia swapped a conditional sixth-round choice in the 2022 NFL Draft for Minshew. ESPN reported the draft choice would become a fifth-rounder if Minshew plays at least 50 percent of the offensive snaps in three Eagles games in 2021.

On Wednesday, Jacksonville coach Urban Meyer announced Trevor Lawrence would be the Jaguars’ starting quarterback. Lawrence joined Jacksonville as the first player picked in the NFL Draft on April 29. Lawrence and Minshew had been alternating days with the first-team offense during training camp.

Minshew spent a semester at Troy before leaving for Northwest Mississippi Community College, then playing two seasons at East Carolina. On Feb. 28, 2018, Minshew committed to Alabama as a graduate transfer.

At that time, Alabama had three quarterbacks who could be NFL Game 1 starters in 2021 – Hurts with Philadelphia, Tua Tagovailoa with the Miami Dolphins and Mac Jones with the New England Patriots.

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Minshew never made it to Alabama but threw for 4,776 yards and 38 touchdowns at Washington State instead in 2018.

A sixth-round draft choice in 2019, Minshew became the Jaguars’ starting quarterback when Nick Foles got hurt. Minshew started 12 games as a rookie, igniting Minshew Mania in Jacksonville. He threw for 3,271 yards with 21 touchdowns and six interceptions in 2019.

Last season, Minshew suffered a fractured thumb and started half of the Jaguars’ games. He threw for 2,259 yards with 16 touchdowns and five interceptions.

Mullens had spent four seasons with the San Francisco 49ers before signing with Philadelphia in June.

Mullens’ first NFL action came in 2018, when he started the final eight games after Jimmy Garoppolo sustained a season-ending injury. After playing just seven offensive snaps in 2019, Mullens again started half of San Francisco’s games in 2020 with Garoppolo sidelined by an injury. But Mullens also got hurt, suffering an elbow injury in the 14th game that required surgery.

Only one player in NFL history has had more passing yards in his first 16 starts than Mullens -- current Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes.

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In 19 regular-season games, with 16 starts, Mullens has completed 387-of-600 passes for 4,714 yards with 25 touchdowns and 22 interceptions.

In Philadelphia’s three preseason games this month, Mullens completed 16-of-29 passes for 129 yards with no touchdowns and three interceptions.

Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.

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