Go Cards! The Brissett Standoff - the best thing for the off-season? Losing your starting quarterback to a contract holdout sounds like a crisis. For a rebuilding franchise with an eye on the future, it might actually be an opportunity. By now, most Cardinals fans know the situation. Jacoby Brissett, coming off a season in which he set personal career marks in passing yards and touchdowns, is holding out for a reworked deal. The two sides are, per reports, “significantly” far apart. Brissett hasn’t been at OTAs, mandatory minicamp is looming, and new head coach Mike LaFleur has been working the first-team offense without his nominal starting quarterback. It sounds messy. But take a step back, and there’s an argument that this is exactly where the Cardinals should want to be. Let’s be honest about what Brissett is. He’s a 33-year- old veteran in his tenth year in the league who went 1-11 as a starter last season on a team that finished 3-14. He’s a professional, he’s reliable, and he showed legitimate flashes. But he is not and has never been a franchise quarterback. Paying him a significant raise
to anchor a rebuild doesn’t move the needle. It just makes the rebuild more expensive. Meanwhile, Gardner Minshew, already guaranteed $5.14 million on the roster, has been running the offense during Brissett’s absence and making a case for the starting job. Minshew has started meaningful games, made a Pro Bowl, and plays with a competitive energy that is hard to manufacture. He may not be the answer long-term either, but at this salary level, he doesn’t have to be. He just has to keep the seat warm responsibly while the real plan develops. And that plan has a name everybody in Arizona already knows: Arch Manning. The Texas quarterback is the consensus top prospect for the 2027 NFL Draft, and in over 40% of early mock drafts, he lands with the Cardinals at pick one. If this team loses the games it’s probably going to lose this year, and drafts Carson Beck into a developmental role, an 0-17 season might look a lot better by April of next year. Sometimes the best move a rebuilding team can make is to stop overpaying for the present and start investing in the future. The Brissett standoff might be forcing their hand in the right direction.
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