The Arizona Cardinals finished the 2025 season with a total of three wins. Then, they released their former No. 1 overall pick and head signal-caller Kyler Murray. Now the backup quarterback contributing to that three-win season, Jacoby Brissett, is in the midst of a contract holdout as he expects to get paid like a starter.
It's a bold move for someone who has already proven he's not capable of leading a franchise to anywhere close to a winning season. Pro Football Focus' preseason quarterback rankings even had Brissett at 31 out of 32, which, well, wasn't wrong.
Jacoby Brissett would only lead the Cardinals into no man's land
Brissett is coming off a career year in Arizona, finishing with 3,366 passing yards and 23 passing touchdowns. Understandably, he's looking to get paid more, as this very well may be his best opportunity at age 33.
However, the Cardinals also need to realize they have leverage themselves in these negotiations. Brissett isn't a starting-caliber quarterback anywhere else, and already benefited from boosting his value during their Murray situation.
Is he a viable stopgap option? Sure. But the Cardinals need to be viewing their starting quarterback of 2026 as a one-year rental, looking ahead to the 2027 NFL Draft where they can land their true signal-caller of the future. There are several intriguing options at the position headlining the draft early on, including Texas' Arch Manning, Oregon's Dante Moore, and Miami's Darian Mensah.
The Cardinals are not only coming off a three-win season but also stuck with one of the hardest schedules in the league thanks to their difficult division, which could result in the top overall pick as the silver lining.
Keeping Brissett around as a short-term rental is one thing, especially since he's not talented enough to drastically change the Cardinals' draft outcome in 2027. But it's also that exact reason why he's not the long-term answer at the most important position in football, and hence has little leverage in these negotiations.
If Brissett continues to seek to get paid a starter-level salary, the Cardinals would be better off looking elsewhere for someone who was going to be a stopgap solution anyway. In the scheme of things, starting Gardner Minshew II for a year is a far more logical answer than overpaying for a Jacoby Brissett who would only continue to lead the Cardinals into mediocrity.
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