On Sunday, the Arizona Cardinals and quarterback Jacoby Brissett agreed to a reworked deal, guaranteeing him $15.5 million for 2026 with a path to $21 million through incentives.
Brissett gets his raise, the front office ends a standoff that dragged from mid-April through the start of training camp, and third-round rookie Carson Beck goes back to holding a clipboard. One NFL analyst is arguing that paying Brissett is a mistake.
Did the Cardinals Make a Mistake Paying Jacoby Brissett Over Starting Carson Beck?
NFL analyst Thor Nystrom believes the Cardinals should have entered the season with Beck as their starting quarterback… so they could land the No. 1 pick in the 2027 NFL Draft.
“They blew a golden opportunity to call Brissett’s bluff and make themselves the runaway favorite for the No. 1 pick by starting Carson Beck,” he wrote.
Next year’s draft is loaded with talented quarterbacks, with Texas Longhorns star Arch Manning and Oregon Ducks star Dante Moore headlining the class. In PFN’s most recent 2027 NFL mock draft, Arizona was projected to select Manning with the No. 1 overall pick.
While Nystrom’s argument makes sense, it’s worth noting that Brissett didn’t exactly raise Arizona’s floor last season. He started 12 games, threw for 3,366 yards with 23 touchdowns and 8 interceptions, yet the team still finished 3-14. He ranked 25th among quarterbacks in PFN’s QB Impact Score with a 72.8 grade.
However, in paying Brissett $15.5 million and starting the stopgap option, one could argue that the money isn’t the main waste; the reps are. Beck is the only quarterback on this roster who could potentially be in the team’s long-term plans. Arizona spent the 65th pick on him in April and signed him to a four-year, $7.4 million deal after he led the Miami Hurricanes to the national championship game last year.
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While most mock drafts project that Arizona will select a QB early in next year’s draft, the Cardinals just spent a third-round pick on Beck, so they need to see what they have in him. Every snap he takes in a lost season is worth more to this franchise than anything Brissett produces. This is a rebuilding team, so starting Brissett just to potentially win a few more games doesn’t help them in the long run (from a draft pick perspective, to Nystrom’s point, or a development perspective).
Cardinals offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett said Beck won’t play until he’s “ready,” so it seems unlikely that Beck was ever going to enter the year as the starter regardless of what happened with Brissett. However, with both Brissett and Gardner Minshew hitting free agency after the season and Arizona facing a big decision early in next year’s draft, the team needs to evaluate Beck to see whether they need to draft his replacement.
Paying Brissett $15.5 million not only makes it tougher to get Beck on the field, but it also potentially complicates the Cardinals’ chances of finding a replacement.
If Arizona wins just enough games to slide out of the top of the 2027 board, they’ll have spent up to $21 million to barely climb up the standings while potentially missing out on potential superstars like Manning and Moore, which could define the next decade.
