Though “Minshew Mania” has arguably came and went, the talented quarterback out of Washington State still has a lot of value as a back up in the NFL.
Gardner Minshew had a number of highlights with the Jacksonville Jaguars, the team that drafted him in 2019, but he’s now bounced around to multiple different teams since, and is now fighting for a starting spot on the Indianapolis Colts.
Regardless of if he’s been a starter or not on whatever team he’s played on, he’s consistently collected pro-athlete level paychecks, and he apparently doesn’t spend much of them.
Minshew has collected over $5.2 million dollars in paychecks since entering into the NFL in 2019, with $3.5 million on his way this year with his current contract with the Indianapolis Colts. The long-haired QB might have a lot of money, but you wouldn’t know it based on his humble, frugal lifestyle.
In an in-depth piece that ESPN posted on Minshew, it was revealed that the fan-favorite footballer still drives a 2011 Acura that was a gift from his parents, and he furnished his entire college apartment at Washington State apartment for the (incredibly) low price of $15 dollars.
According to the report, Gardner has long lived the “thrifty” life, buying a $5 dollar side table and $10 dresser in college to go along with his mattress…which he found for free in a dumpster. Considering he still drives the car from high school, I’m hoping that he at least treated himself to a new mattress once he signed his first NFL deal.
A free mattress is great and all, but one that you find in a trash pile still comes with a “cost,” if you catch my drift. Even if you deep clean the thing, the previous owner clearly thought that the mattress was “past its expiration date.” But, as they say (who’s they?), one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.
You hear a lot about young professional athletes blowing through their money with luxury car and fancy home purchases. Gardner Minshew is clearly not one of those stories, and in fact could be considered the opposite.
He’ll have brought in around $8 million dollars in salary after this year for his NFL career (probably around $4-$5 million after taxes), and it sounds like someone needs to tell him that’s it is okay to spend a little of that on necessities, like “non-garbage” mattresses…
And just for the hell of it, here’s a video that ESPN did a couple of years back with Gardner Minshew and everyone’s favorite “could’ve gone pro” athlete, Uncle Rico:
