Being a lifelong Jaguars fan is both a gift and a curse. Yes our franchise was fantastic for the first 5 years, but we’ve been extremely mediocre since. That is why our fanbase gets excited about any potential glimmer of hope, including Gardner Minshew II. The sixth round draft pick of the Jacksonville Jaguars has given the fanbase hope once again after a devastating injury to Nick Foles in the first quarter of our first home game of the 2019-2020 season. While I have been a Minshew fan since the preseason, I’ve wondered about Gardner Minshew’s social media popularity since that first game. Did the entire nation love Jacksonville’s Uncle Rico, or was it just my group of deranged friends?
With that question in mind, I decided to build a Tableau visualization to track Gardner Minshew’s social media popularity during the 2019-2020 NFL season. The visualization is based upon social media data from Twitter and Instagram, as well as Google search trends data. See the embedded dashboard below, which i will be updating weekly on Thursdays. I’ll also include my insights for each NFL week below the visualization as a summary.
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Gardner Minshew’s Social Media Popularity:
NFL Week 1 MINSHEW MANIA Highlights:
- On 9/8/2019, Gardner Minshew entered the game versus the Kansas City Chiefs after a 1st quarter injury to starting Jaguars Quarterback, Nick Foles
- Minshew’s social media followers (Twitter + Instagram) grew by 8.4% (4,300+) from Sunday to Monday (when the NFL Week 1 ended)
- Minshew went 22/25 on pass attempts and totaled 275 yards, QBR = 122.5
- Kyler Murray saw the greatest total increase in followers in week 1 after his first start for the Arizona Cardinals (21,000+). Kyler Murray dominated Google search trend interest in Week 1
- Gardner Minshew won the “Pepsi NFL Rookie of the Week” award
NFL Week 2 MINSHEW MANIA Highlights:
- Gardner Minshew lost his first start against the Houston Texans. The loss was capped with a 4th quarter drive by Minshew that would have tied the game if the Jaguars had opted to kick an extra point.
- Minshew performed well once again, with a QBR of 97.5
- Gardner Minshew saw his total social media followers increase by 72% (40,000+) from week 1 to the end of week 2. Minshew’s large pick-up in followers was likely driven by extensive Minshew-related coverage by sites such as ‘Barstool Sports’
- Interestingly, Minshew became the most popular rookie QB in terms of Google search interest in Week 2 (47/50 states)
- Kyler Murray saw an increase of over 22,000 followers (for comparison)
NFL Week 3 MINSHEW MANIA Highlights:
- The Jaguars dominated the Tennessee Titans in a nationally-televised Thursday Night victory. Multiple channels, including NFL Network and ESPN conducted interviews with Gardner Minshew
- Gardner Minshew saw his total follower count increase by 148% in a single day after the Thursday win. His follower count more than doubled from 107,000 to over 266,000 from 9/19 to 9/20
- Minshew ended the week with over 366,000 followers. A gain of 282% over Week 2
- Minshew dominated search interest again, and was the most popular rookie QB in 47/50 states (again)
- Minshew won the Pepsi NFL Rookie of the Week Award once again in week 3
- Daniel Jones recorded his first start for the New York Giants during week 3 with a win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Jones gained over 65,000 (+51%) followers from week 2 to week 3. Jones was the top rookie QB in the remaining 3/50 states (NY, NJ, CT)
NFL Week 4 MINSHEW MANIA Highlights:
- Rookie Quarterback popularity in NFL Week 4 continued to be dominated by Jacksonville’s hero, Gardner Minshew. Minshew was the most popular rookie QB in 38/50 states. However an emerging threat in New York (Daniel Jones) has taken some of the attention away from our star
- Minshew added over 102,000 (+30%) social media followers in NFL Week 4, driven by a win over the Denver Broncos, a visit to Jacksonville by Uncle Rico, and a national spot run on ESPN’s NFL Sunday Morning featuring Gardner Minshew and Uncle Rico
- At the end of NFL Week 4, Minshew had 475,300 Twitter + Instagram followers (+826% since 9/6). He is currently in 3rd place among rookie QBs, but is rapidly gaining on former Ohio State QB Dwayne Haskins, who enjoyed national notoriety throughout his collegiate career
- With a 2nd win, Daniel Jones became the second most searched rookie QB in Week 4, taking 9 states in the North East. Jones saw the 2nd largest gain in total followers with an increase of 22,300 followers (+11.4%)
- Dwayne Haskins entered the rookie QB popularity contest, entering his first game in a blowout loss to the New York Giants. Haskins was the most popular rookie QB in two states, Maryland and Hawaii
- Kyler Murray, and the 0-3-1 Arizona Cardinals was the most popular QB in 1 state…Arizona
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Go Jags,