5 facts about Chiefs backup quarterback Gardner Minshew with Patrick Mahomes out
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Gardner Minshew will start Kansas City’s final three games after Mahomes’ ACL tear.
- Minshew logged starts with Jaguars, Colts, Raiders and signed with Chiefs 2025.
- He set Pac-12 records at Washington State and built a high-profile off-field persona.
There’s a new quarterback in Kansas City.
After Patrick Mahomes tore his ACL in his left knee near the end of the Chiefs’ 16-13 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers Sunday, Dec. 14, backup quarterback Gardner Minshew stepped in to finish the game. And he’ll start the team’s final three games of the season, Andy Reid said.
Minshew was 3-of-5 for 22 yards in the Chargers game and threw the game-sealing interception in relief of Mahomes. His next NFL start won’t be his first of his six-year professional career.
Where did Minshew go to college? Where else has he played in the NFL? And did you know about his off-the-field hobbies?
Here are five facts about the Chiefs’ backup quarterback.
A late NFL Draft success story
Minshew was taken in the sixth round of the 2019 NFL Draft by the Jacksonville Jaguars, and was immediately thrust into starting quarterback duties.
Then-Jaguars quarterback Nick Foles was injured in the first game of the 2019 season against the Chiefs, and Minshew took over. The rookie completed 22 of 25 passes for 275 yards, two touchdowns and one interception in the 40-26 loss, and ended up starting the majority of the games for Jacksonville that season.
Minshew had highs and lows throughout his career, but he currently has the third-most passing yards and appearances of any quarterback selected in the 2019 NFL Draft, with only the Indianapolis Colts’ Daniel Jones and Arizona Cardinals’ Kyler Murray throwing for more yards and appearing in more games.
Multiple NFL teams experienced Minshew Mania
Jacksonville traded Minshew to the Philadelphia Eagles after the 2020 season. He threw for 2,259 yards, 16 touchdowns and five interceptions in Year 2 with the Jaguars before switching teams.
Minshew was the backup to Jalen Hurts and only appeared in limited situations during his two years with the Eagles. Minshew then signed with the Colts in 2023 as the backup to rookie Anthony Richardson, but started 13 games due to Richardson’s injuries.
Minshew threw for 15 touchdowns and a career-high 3,305 yards with the Colts, almost leading them to a playoff appearance. He was also named to his first career Pro Bowl as an alternate after the regular season ended.
He signed a two-year contract with the Las Vegas Raiders in 2024 and was named the starting quarterback entering the season. But that didn’t last long, as he was benched six games in and later suffered a broken collarbone.
Minshew was released by the Raiders after the 2024 season and signed with Kansas City in 2025.
Where did Minshew go to college?
Minshew bounced around during his collegiate career, transferring from multiple schools before setting records at Washington State in 2018.
He initially committed to play at Troy, but left before playing a game. He went to Northwest Mississippi Community College to play football in the National Junior College Athletic Association in 2015, then transferred to East Carolina in 2016.
With one year of college eligibility left, he transferred to Washington State and earned Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Year honors, throwing for 4,779 yards and 38 touchdowns in a season in which the Cougars were ranked as high as No. 8 in the College Football Playoff rankings.
They dig the mustache
Minshew has earned love from fans across the NFL for his looks. He once sported a mustache and headband look that drew comparisons to Uncle Rico, a character in the cult-classic 2004 movie “Napoleon Dynamite.”
His coach at Washington State, Mike Leach, told ESPN he’d never seen more women with mustaches than in Pullman. (Replica mustaches became famous among fans that season.)
Off-the-field stories, like living in a bus outside of a gym, traveling cross-country in an RV or working out in Washington State’s locker room in just a jock strap have garnered him more attention than most sixth-round draft picks.
NFL.com even named him the most interesting quarterback in the league in 2019.
Behind the name Gardner
The native of Flowood, Mississippi, is named after his father, who goes by Flint. But that almost wasn’t the case.
The 29-year-old quarterback almost shared a name with an Old English poem legend: Beowulf.
His grandfather wanted to name him after a warrior who travels all over to vanquish the world’s most fearsome foes, according to multiple reports.
“That story’s true,” Gardner “Flint” Minshew told Yahoo Sports in 2019. “His grandfather wanted to name him that. But his grandfather didn’t have to live with it every day. So it didn’t happen.”
His next journey starts Sunday, Dec. 21, in the Chiefs’ noon game against an opponent with a fitting name: the Tennessee Titans.
