Kyler Murray struggled with the Arizona Cardinals but has recently found success with the Minnesota Vikings. Now Murray is the starting quarterback of a 6-1 team leading the NFC North. He hasn't been perfect by any means, as flaws have followed him from Arizona to Minnesota. However, the Vikings' strong start to the season suggests the problem in Arizona wasn't really about Murray.
The Baltimore Ravens are now hoping history repeats itself with Jacoby Brissett. NFL Network's Ian Rapoport and ESPN's Adam Schefter reported Wednesday that the Cardinals are trading Brissett to the Ravens. The trade details, including any draft compensation coming back to Arizona, have yet to be disclosed, as the deal won't be finalized for a few days.
Even without knowing the draft compensation, the Cardinals' decision to move on from Brissett ahead of the Nov. 10 trade deadline is smart. Head coach Mike LaFleur recently demoted him to QB3, naming Gardner Minshew II the team's starting quarterback after his Week 8 heroics against the Dallas Cowboys.
For the Ravens, it's a veteran short-term solution to finish out the season after the unfortunate injuries to Lamar Jackson and Tyler "Snoop" Huntley. The Ravens are surprisingly at the bottom of the AFC North standings with a 4-4 record. This trade is essentially a cheap but necessary move to save their season and keep those postseason hopes alive.
Cardinals must fix the entire offensive infrastructure
Brissett should play better than what he showed in Arizona this season. He's now surrounded by a more reliable Ravens offensive infrastructure and a defense that can actually hold its own. Brissett was asked to do too much in Arizona, which clearly wasn't his game. Now he can turn to running back Derrick Henry or a defense to win him the game, rather than trying to keep up in one shootout after another with the Cardinals. It's a good short-term audition for Brissett, who is on an expiring contract and can use this opportunity to boost his value on the free agency market.
As a former No. 1 overall pick, Murray is the more talented player between the two. But Murray benefited from a change of scenery and a team that knew how to play to his strengths and mask his weaknesses. Brissett should be joining a similar situation in Baltimore, and it should prove a mutually beneficial pairing after Jackson's unfortunate injury.
For the Cardinals, this trade gives them a chance to reset and address the larger issue at hand. Why are these quarterbacks like Murray and likely now Brissett going on to have more success elsewhere? LaFleur has even said throughout the season that the problem wasn't Brissett.
Arizona will now have to use its future assets to figure out what that bigger problem is. Because until they get to the root, it will be an endless cycle of investing in quarterbacks -- whether it's Murray through the draft or Brissett through his reworked deal -- only to move on because they weren't meeting expectations in a situation not built for them to succeed.
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