What’s next for the Jaguars at QB now that Nick Foles is out?

The Jaguars are going to roll with Gardner Minshew, but for how long?

Nick Foles suffered a broken clavicle Sunday and now the Jaguars are probably screwed.

After jettisoning Blake Bortles due to his inconsistency and propensity for turnovers, the solution for Jacksonville was to sign the Eagles’ former Super Bowl MVP. Foles signed a four-year, $88 million contract with the Jaguars with $50.125 million guaranteed in March and lasted about 10 minutes in Week 1 before going down.

His final play was a beautiful 35-yard touchdown pass to D.J. Chark that showed exactly what the Jaguars paid for:

Now Foles is going to undergo surgery and miss extensive time, leaving the Jaguars in a rough spot.

The AFC South appeared to be wide open for Jacksonville. Andrew Luck’s retirement and the Texans’ trade of Jadeveon Clowney only made the Jaguars more optimistic about their chances in 2019. Despite losing Foles, the team will still want to salvage that opportunity and try to make run.

But what are the Jaguars’ options at quarterback now that they’re without Foles?

Option A: Ride the Gardner Minshew train

When a sixth-round rookie quarterback is forced to play in the first quarter of Week 1, things have probably gone off the rails. There wasn’t much reason to feel good about Minshew, who posted a 69.3 passer rating in preseason.

Then Minshew came in against the Chiefs and immediately found success. He finished 22-of-25 passing with 275 yards, two touchdowns, and one interception. His 122.5 passer rating is better than any Bortles performance in 2018.

While he mostly threw short passes underneath, he kept the Kansas City offense honest early by connecting with Chark on a nice 69-yard bomb:

He completed the first 13 passes of his career — a first for any player in at least 40 years — and helped the Jaguars stay in the game. However, he couldn’t outduel league MVP Patrick Mahomes, who mowed through the Jacksonville defense in a 40-26 Kansas City win.

Given the hot start to Minshew’s career, the Jaguars don’t need to change things up too dramatically right now. They should be aware of the probability that Minshew won’t play like that again, though.

He made his debut against a Chiefs defense that was one of the NFL’s worst in 2018 and was preparing to face Foles. A Week 2 road trip against the Texans could certainly go sideways for Minshew.

Option B: Sign a veteran off the street

This is the route most teams take when a player goes down. It’s probably going to be the Jaguars’ solution too — especially if Minshew can’t replicate his Week 1 showing. Either way, Jacksonville needs to add another quarterback to the roster with Foles gone, even if it’s only as a backup.

The problem is that it’s slim pickings on the open market.

The clear-cut best free agent quarterback right now is Colin Kaepernick, a legitimate NFL starter who led a team to a Super Bowl. He’s been blackballed out of the league for two seasons for protesting racial inequality during the national anthem, but all indications are that he’s continued to prepare for an opportunity if one arrives.

A safer assumption is that the Jaguars — like every other team for two years — will sign a lesser player instead.

Among the former starters on the market are Matt Cassel, Brock Osweiler, and Brandon Weeden. Yikes. Sifting through that tier of quarterbacks doesn’t look like a viable path to an AFC South title.

Option C: Trade for a starter

Jacksonville’s significant investment in Foles means the team simply can’t invest big in another starter. Their trailer is hitched, and Foles will be the starter in 2020 and probably beyond.

Any player acquired by the Jaguars would be a temporary fix until Foles returns.

Parsing through the list of top backup quarterbacks reveals the trade options are also limited. The Saints won’t want to part with Teddy Bridgewater given he may eventually be their starter in the post-Drew Brees era. Likewise, the 49ers won’t want to part with Nick Mullens, who is just 24 and showed plenty of developmental value in 2018. It’s probably the same story with Josh Rosen of the Dolphins.

The Jaguars would want a more immediate answer than those players, anyway. That leaves Tyrod Taylor (Chargers) and Chase Daniel (Bears) among the best veteran backups who could be pulled away by Jacksonville.

There is a splashier alternative, though. Jaguars executive Tom Coughlin could call up the Giants and try to get Eli Manning.

The Giants could get value back for a 38-year-old quarterback and move his $23.2 million salary cap hit out of New York. It’d make sense if — and only if — the team believes rookie Daniel Jones showed enough in preseason to make them believe he’s ready for regular season action.

The Jaguars would get an experienced starter who’s under contract only until the end of the 2019 season. Foles could then take the reins back whenever he’s healthy.

It’s a course of action that could make more sense for the Jaguars if Minshew begins to struggle. It’d also be a scenario that would make sense for the Giants if their season gets out to a rough start.

For now though, it’s the Minshew show in Jacksonville.