Andrew Wingard was an undrafted rookie for the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2019, the same year Gardner Minshew II was a sixth-round draft pick of the team.
It was also the same year of the first NFL Minshew Mania.
"Gardner was balling, like balling balling, and he was the talk of the town in Jacksonville," the Cardinals safety said. "Jacksonville is kind of a cult hero place, and he took over."
Wingard not only lived Minshew Mania but lived with it. He, Minshew and another rookie, wide receiver Michael Walker, shared an apartment while Minshew took over the first game of the season after starter Nick Foles got hurt and turned the city sideways for a couple of months.
"It's crazy full circle how we both come back to here after literally being roommates as rookies and kind of just making our way, and then here we are," Wingard said.
Seven years later, Minshew is trying to recreate a little Minshew Mania in Arizona, heading into Week 9's game at Seattle as the newly minted starting quarterback of the Cardinals. The mania is TBD, but the Minshew Magic was a hell of a drug in his first appearance with the team, a rousing relief appearance last week in Dallas when Minshew threw three touchdown passes in 34 offensive snaps en route to a stunning 33-30 comeback overtime win over the Cowboys.
The performance meant Minshew was the starter, rookie Carson Beck was elevated to the backup job, and previous starter Jacoby Brissett was expected to be traded to Baltimore by the end of the weekend.
"People ask and it's really not that different," Minshew said. "I show up here, try to get better and try to lead the boys. Went to the zoo yesterday with my wife and baby. It was awesome. So, it's the same stuff. The position's different, there are different demands there, but (I'm) just trying to be the same guy. Same energy. Same work."
MINSHEW HAS started 47 games in his first seven seasons. He had stints as a starter with the Raiders and Colts and even a few with the Eagles. But none of those moments were like that first year in Jacksonville, when he three times led the Jaguars to fourth-quarter comebacks, breathing life into a struggling team.
Cardinals play-by-play voice J.P. Shadrick spent 14 years with the Jaguars as a senior reporter, with an up-close view of Minshew Mania both now and then.
In those two months of 2019, Shadrick said it was hard to go anywhere in Jacksonville without seeing fake Minshew moustaches, or wigs with a headband, or people wearing Minshew's trademark jean shorts.
"It was a happening, just because of his persona, and the way he played and the way he moved around the pocket and ran with it, sometimes throwing oddly," Shadrick added. "It was, 'What is this thing? Is it sustainable? I don't know but it's pretty darn fun right now.'"
Minshew made an impression on a high school quarterback living in Jacksonville at the time, a quarterback that now serves as his backup.
"Minshew Mania," Beck said. "He did some crazy things and they won a couple games. I've been a Jags fan all my life. It was a cool time. Definitely brought some energy to Jacksonville."
Beck and Minshew shared a quarterback coach, and the two had a chance to throw together once or twice. Beck said Minshew has always been good to him – "Super chill, fun to be around" – and that Minshew has been helpful to the rookie since Beck arrived in April.
Brissett stayed away from voluntary work all offseason while in a contract dispute, so Minshew took all the first-team reps in OTAs and minicamp, while Beck was No. 2. That's their lineup now, after Beck served as the emergency third QB in the first eight games.
"Watching him last week do what he did," Beck said, "that was pretty spectacular."
MINSHEW ADMITTED he wasn't sure what his role might be in Arizona as the season began. Brissett finally got his contract and immediately went back to QB1, and once Beck was drafted in the third round, there has always been one collective eye on when the rookie might get some playing time so the Cardinals can see what he might become.
There was a chance that move might've been directly from Brissett to Beck, with Minshew never getting on the field this season.
"I think that's the battle we all face," Minshew said. "We can't control that. That's not anything in our purview. What can I do? I can show up, be a great teammate and work my butt off. That's all I've been able to do and it's been awesome doing that. Support Jacoby, support the rest of the team. Now there is a change in title, but everything else pretty much stays the same."
Wingard noted the old saying of an athlete who "looks like Tarzan, plays like Jane."
"I think me and Gardner are kind of look-like-Jane-but-play-like-Tarzan guys," said Wingard, who shares Minshew's favor of long hair. "Screw the eye test. The eye test is just an eye test. It's not football, and Gardner knows how to play the game and he knows how to play it damn well."
Shadrick saw a more mature quarterback dissect the Cowboys on Sunday than the one running around making something out of nothing during his rookie days. That's not a surprise this deep into an NFL career.
"Sheesh, a lot (different)," Minshew said. "Didn't even know what you didn't know. Now I know there's things I don't know, I guess. But no, still, just fired up to play ball. Any opportunity is amazing. I remember coming in, sixth-round rookie, I didn't know if I was going to make a team and ended up starting a ton that year. And man, what a blessing. I feel the same way now."
Wingard has changed a lot since 2019. So has Minshew. Wingard said their friendship has blossomed now that they have been reunited – Minshew left Jacksonville after the 2020 season -- and he is thrilled to see his friend get another chance to show what he can do on the field.
MINSHEW'S PERSONA, the one that has been described in countless articles, the one that follows him wherever he goes, the one that served as the backdrop to Minshew Mania beyond any touchdown passes he has thrown, remains a reason he connects with the fanbase of whatever city he plays in.
Once he left Jacksonville, it was two years in Philadelphia. Then a year in Indianapolis, a year in Las Vegas, and a year in Kansas City.
He doesn't deny his folk-hero status. But he quickly turns it into a team benefit.
"I didn't even know what to do with it the first time. Honestly, it kind of freaked me out," Minshew said. "It was like, 'What the heck?' Man, I don't know. I think it's awesome to watch a team that's out there fighting, trying to win against all odds, against whatever's happening. I think we have a ton of those dudes and that's a lot of fun. It's a lot of fun to watch and it's a lot of fun to be a part of."
The Cardinals got Minshew Magic in Dallas. Now they are hoping for their own dose of Minshew Mania.
"Good times and bad, he will always give you the best of himself at quarterback," Shadrick said. "May not be the best quarterback in the league sometimes, but he might be the best quarterback at the moment for the Cardinals, and that's pretty good."
ROSTER MOVES
The Cardinals signed running back Jermar Jefferson and wide receiver James Proche II to the practice squad on Wednesday, as well as opening the practice window to return from IR for guard Isaiah Adams.
