Insider: Why signing Gardner Minshew helps Shane Steichen navigate Colts' uncertain future

Gardner Minshew is a Colts quarterback but he's not entirely sure what that job will entail.

He's been a backup and a starter, playing in 32 games and starting 24 across four seasons, with an 8-16 record. He's 26 years old, and he knows Shane Steichen quite well from their past two seasons in Philadelphia. A trust level exists. But what that trust will be used for is still up in the air.

"I really don't have any expectations," Minshew said. "I've come here to work hard and have fun. I think if we do that, we'll end up in a good place."

This is where the Colts are this spring, navigating the space between a broken quarterback carousel and a path to a future at the game's most important position. They own the No. 4 pick in the draft, but the Panthers traded up to No. 1. The Colts are confident they'll solve the riddle, but the short- and long-term trajectories are a mystery right now, and Minshew has signed up to live in that clouded sphere.

He's the only outside offensive free agent to do so thus far, which speaks to his versatility and his comfort with the coach leading this path forward.

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"One of the big things about Shane is he's just straight-up. He tells it like it is, and he's himself all the time," Minshew said. "You really have to understand not only what he's calling but why he's calling it.

"... A couple of the biggest things we focused on in Philadelphia was explosive plays and turnovers. If you look at who wins games in the NFL, it's teams that win the turnover battle and teams that win the explosive play battle."

Minshew signed a one-year deal for $3.5 million, with incentives that could push him up to $5.5 million.

The Colts could draft a rookie and let him sit and learn for a while, but history shows it's challenging to keep the No. 4 pick on the bench for a full season, even when that is the plan. The Colts are also absorbing $18 million in a dead cap hit with Matt Ryan's release, so spending high on another veteran who might not start was not in the cards.

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Minshew's career has prepared him for this space. He was a sixth-round pick in the 2019 draft out of Washington State, where he ran the Air Raid offense for Mike Leach. He started 12 games as a rookie with the Jaguars and won six of them, throwing 21 touchdowns to six interceptions.

But the Jaguars struggled mightily the next season, finishing 1-15. Minshew started eight games and threw 16 touchdowns to five interceptions but went 1-7. When Jacksonville hired Urban Meyer and drafted Trevor Lawrence at No. 1 overall to start from Day 1, it shipped Minshew to the Eagles, who wanted him as a backup as they evaluated Jalen Hurts' long-term potential.

His offensive coordinator was Steichen, and the Eagles also employed a consultant at the time in Jim Bob Cooter. That's when he made an impression on the two men who will now run the Colts offense. Minshew started four games in two seasons with Philadelphia, throwing seven touchdowns to four interceptions with a 92.8 rating. He was a supportive resource for Hurts, who grew from a second-round pick to the MVP runner-up to Patrick Mahomes last year en route to an appearance in the Super Bowl.

That run is what landed Steichen the Colts job, and it's what landed Minshew here as well. He knows the system that Steichen and Cooter will implement, and it could be a shock to the systems of a rookie quarterback.

"A lot of these things are like learning a different language, right?" Cooter said. "I know English, but this is what the word sounds like in Spanish. If you just know this word and that word we can make that thing come together.

"We just have to learn that translation. A little bit of that is the same for any quarterback – young, old, whatever – can we talk the same language? Which lets us get on the field and execute a little bit faster."

A vibrant personality with four years of experience and 24 starts, Minshew can speak that language, to a rookie quarterback or just to other members of a rebuilding Colts offense. He's here to help smooth a transition that has everyone wondering what the direction is.

He's ready for the bumps along the way.

Contact Colts insider Nate Atkins at natkins@indystar.com. Follow him on Twitter @NateAtkins_.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Colts: Gardner Minshew is ready to help Shane Steichen find a path forward