Cardinals quarterback Jacoby Brissett’s ongoing absence from the team’s offseason program has opened the door for others to get more work as the team prepares for the 2026 season.
Gardner Minshew is at the top of that list. The veteran signed with the team as a free agent this offseason and is getting a better chance at earning the starting job in Arizona than some might have thought earlier this year.
Minshew has started games for five teams under a variety of circumstances over his seven-year career, which has given him some perspective on making too much of any one moment in time when he was asked about being the No. 1 quarterback for the Cardinals.
“At some point, someone’s going to better than you and they’re gonna play,” Minshew said, via David Brandt of the Associated Press. “At some point, you’ll be the best guy in the room and you’ll get a chance to play. All you really have is your opportunity to work and get better and enjoy it with the guys around you.”
Third-round pick Carson Beck is also getting some extra looks while Brissett is away from the team and all of the quarterbacks could wind up getting their shot in the regular season unless the Cardinals are significantly better than expected this fall.
The Cardinals are projected to be one of the worst teams in the NFL this season, with oddsmakers listing them as underdogs in every game. One of their best players, edge rusher Josh Sweat, and their presumed starting quarterback, Jacoby Brissett, are not participating in the voluntary offseason program.
Brissett wants a pay raise for this season, while the Cardinals are getting trade calls for Sweat.
New head coach Mike LaFleur reiterated that he is not worried about any player’s absence.
“The few guys that weren’t out there that you guys probably saw today, very much we knew that they weren’t going to be here and a lot of it was planned,” LaFleur said, via NFL.com.
Brissett, 33, is entering the second year of a two-year deal he signed in March 2025. He is scheduled to make $4.88 million in 2026, with a max value of $5.39 million, but only $1.5 million is guaranteed.
Despite LaFleur bringing a new scheme, the coach cites Brissett’s 10 seasons across six teams.
“Like I said, you’d be hard-pressed to see if Jacoby hasn’t done most of what we are doing physically,” LaFleur said. “It’s word association from that point and cadences and all that kind of stuff. The hardest thing to teach a player is the speed of the game -- an NFL game, in general. He’s played a lot of ball, so, he’ll be just fine.”
Sweat led the team with a career-high 12 sacks last season. He had signed a four-year, $76.4 million deal with the Cardinals to reunite with coach Jonathan Gannon, who was Sweat’s defensive coordinator in Philadelphia for two seasons.
“I don’t even read into the offers,” LaFleur said. “I’m just excited about the fact that I don’t have to game plan against this guy. I got to know him when I first got this job. He’s a good dude. He goes about his process, and he’s not the first guy to go about his process the way he is in terms of how he’s training and all that.”
Sweat skipped the offseason program last season, too.
Arizona will hold a mandatory minicamp on June 8-10, which will result in a fine of $107,911 for any player who misses all three days.
Tuesday’s decision by the Supreme Court to not accept the NFL’s petition for appeal in the Brian Flores case means that all of his claims will be decided in court, not in arbitration.
And Flores recently added some new factual allegations to the various legal theories raised in his four-year-old litigation against the league and various teams.
In the third amendment to his initial civil complaint, Flores has added specific allegations of retaliation against the NFL.
The 483-paragraph, 106-page document includes at paragraphs 298 through 312 allegations that the NFL has retaliated against Flores since the filing of his initial lawsuit.
“Despite it being widely understood by the public and sports media that Mr. Flores should be considered one of the elite Head Coach candidates, Mr. Flores has not been offered a Head Coach job since starting this lawsuit,” the new complaint alleges at paragraph 311.
From paragraph 312 of the new complaint: “The NFL teams’ failure to hire Mr. Flores is consistent with an NFL Head Coach hiring process that is [sic] has for decades treated Black candidates disparately to white candidates and led to significantly disparate impact. It is also consistent with a culture of retaliation in which NFL teams close ranks against those who raise complaints of discrimination.”
The new factual allegations did not result in an additional cause of action; the existing lawsuit already includes multiple specific claims for retaliation.
As to the concept of retaliation based on the failure of teams to hire Flores as its head coach, the current complaint lists only one team — the Texans. In 2022, Houston made Flores one of three finalists for the job (along with Josh McCown and Jonathan Gannon) before hiring Lovie Smith instead. Flores claims that the decision to not hire him was motivated by the filing of his lawsuit against the NFL and multiple teams.
Although no specific other teams have been accused of failing to hire Flores in retaliation for filing and pursuing his lawsuit, the discovery process could lead to evidence that would support a finding that Flores was not given proper consideration by one or more teams with vacancies during the 2023, 2024, 2025, and/or 2026 hiring cycles.
The contention that the NFL maintains a “culture of retaliation” shows that Flores suspects his failure to get more interviews and/or any offers resulted from retaliation. Time will tell whether other specific teams are added to the case as defendants.
Flores’s current claims target the Dolphins, Texans, Broncos, and Giants. (His co-plaintiffs, Steve Wilks and Ray Horton, have sued the Cardinals and Titans, respectively.)
Obviously, Flores won’t be able to force any team to hire him. His aggressive legal arguments won’t make that any easier. Throughout the litigation, however, he has chosen doing what he believes is right over what would be expedient for his career.
And so he’ll continue to serve as Minnesota’s defensive coordinator, while waiting for a head-coaching opportunity that may never materialize. In the end, the NFL and/or specific teams could be on the wrong end of a verdict that requires them to pay Flores as if he has been a head coach since 2022.
Even if Flores never becomes a head coach again.
The Cardinals have received trade calls about Pro Bowl defensive end Josh Sweat, according to Jordan Schultz of The Schultz Report.
Sweat has not attended the Cardinals’ voluntary offseason program.
The Cardinals signed Sweat to a four-year, $76.4 million deal in the 2025 offseason, reuniting him with Jonathan Gannon. Gannon, who was the Eagles’ defensive coordinator in 2021-22 when Sweat was in Philadelphia, was fired by the Cardinals after last season.
Sweat set a career-high with 12 sacks in his first season in Arizona. He has 55 sacks in eight seasons, along with 114 quarterback hits.
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court declined to accept the NFL’s appeal in the case brought by Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores (and Steve Wilks and Ray Horton). The decision allows his case to proceed in court — and, in theory, to culminate with a public trial.
Both sides have issued comments in the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s ruling.
“We respect the Supreme Court’s decision not to grant review,” a league spokesperson said. “Regardless of the forum, we are fully prepared to defend ourselves as this matter proceeds.”
Said Flores’s lawyers: “We are pleased that the Supreme Court declined to accept the NFL’s appeal. The NFL must now accept that its commissioner cannot be the arbitrator over discrimination claims against the league and its teams. We look forward to litigating these claims in court.”
Obviously, the league wants the forum to be its in-house arbitration process. It keeps things secret, and it tips the scales of justice in the league’s favor.
But, no, the NFL won’t suddenly surrender. It will aggressively challenge Flores at every turn, with the goal of securing a victory without having to take the case to trial.
When will that happen? It could take months. Maybe years. After all, it took nearly 52 months to get the case past the threshold question of whether the claims will be resolved in court or in arbitration.
