HENDERSON, Nev. – The Las Vegas Raiders have signed unrestricted free agent QB Gardner Minshew II, the club announced Thursday.
Minshew joins the Silver and Black after earning a 2023 Pro Bowl selection with the Colts, where he played in all 17 games (13 starts), completing 305-of-490 passes (62.2%) for 3,305 yards, 15 touchdowns, nine interceptions and an 84.6 passer rating. He also rushed for 100 yards and three touchdowns on 34 attempts. His 305 completions and 3,305 passing yards were both single-season career highs. After taking over as the starter in Week 6, Minshew led the Colts to a 6-6 record to finish out the season, including four-straight wins from Weeks 9-13. He also recorded a 100.0+ passer rating in six games last season, tied for the 11th most in the NFL. In Week 7 vs. Cleveland, Minshew rushed for two touchdowns and passed for two touchdowns, becoming the first player in Colts history to accomplish the feat and one of only five players to do so in 2023.
The 6-1, 225-pound quarterback comes to Las Vegas for his sixth NFL season after making stops in Jacksonville (2019-20), Philadelphia (2021-22) and Indianapolis (2023). Minshew originally entered the league as a sixth-round pick (178th overall) by the Jaguars in the 2019 NFL Draft and has played in 49 career games (37 starts) and thrown for 9,937 passing yards, 59 passing touchdowns, 24 interceptions and a 90.2 passer rating. His 2.5 passing touchdowns to interception ratio is the 10th best mark in the NFL among quarterbacks with at least 1,400 attempts since 2019.
A native of Flowood, Miss., Minshew began his collegiate career at Northwest Mississippi Community College in 2015 before transferring to East Carolina for two seasons (2016-17). He then finished his collegiate career at Washington State in 2018 where he started in 13 games and completed 468-of-662 passes for a single-season career-high 4,479 yards and 38 touchdowns with only nine interceptions, setting Pac-12 and school single-season records in completions and passing yards. He earned Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Year, the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award and First Team All-Pac-12 honors.
