Cardinals Clips
The Cardinals don’t have a quarterback competition. In theory. But a competition possibly could emerge.
Jacoby Brissett is the starter. He’s not happy with a contract that paid him to be a backup. The Cardinals have yet to adjust his contract to compensate him fairly to be the QB1.
Brissett stayed away from the voluntary portion of the offseason program. He reported, as required, for the mandatory minicamp. He’ll presumably show up for training camp.
But what will he do when he gets there? Starting quarterbacks typically do more than just show up and do the minimum. They put in extra work. They do other things. They are, for many teams, a member of management who operates among the workers, operating as a de facto player-coach.
Will Brissett embrace the extra stuff, if he’s not happy with his contract? Really, why go above and beyond the basic requirements of the job if you’re not being paid fairly to do the job?
Then there’s the chance he’ll hold in, not practicing at all until he gets a revised contract.
Complicating the situation is that Brissett represents himself. Which necessarily makes the negotiations more delicate and potentially awkward.
If Brissett the agent advises Brissett the client to punch the clock and go home (or to decline to practice), it opens the door for one of the other quarterbacks to fill the void. Whether it’s Gardner Minshew or rookie Carson Beck (or a little of both) remains to be seen. But it could be that Brissett will choose not to operate at all times (or at all) like the starter unless and until he’s compensated like a veteran starter.
The Cardinals can easily avoid that outcome by figuring out a fair number for Brissett to be the starter. The range for veteran starters is currently broad, starting in the low 20s and extending into the mid-60s.
Under the two-year deal Brissett signed in 2025, his average annual salary is $6.25 million.
On one level, it’s madness. At another level, there’s a potential method to it. Stuck in a division with a trio of Super Bowl contenders, the Cardinals face a steep uphill climb to a playoff berth. It will be far easier to accept their fate for 2026 and sink in the standings — while rising in the draft order for 2027. Which sets the Cardinals up for the ability to draft one of the best quarterbacks in next year’s crop. (Unless and until Arch Manning makes it clear he’s not interested in playing there.)
Even if Brissett keeps the starting job (with or without an adjustment to his contract), it seems inevitable that Beck will get a chance to play. The Cardinals need to know whether he’s got the potential to be a year-to-year starter before committing to drafting a quarterback next year. If you think they won’t, remember that they took Kyler Murray with the first pick one year after trading up to No. 10 to draft Josh Rosen. (While also passing on Lamar Jackson.)
So, no, there’s officially no quarterback competition in Arizona. But if Brissett chooses not to accept the mantle of being the starter until he’s paid like one, a competition could unfold.
The Cardinals released a statement shortly after the NFL announced the indefinite suspension of Ryan Gold, the team’s director of college scouting. Gold violated the NFL’s gambling policy, according to the NFL.
“The NFL’s policies and expectations for all employees are clear, comprehensive and consistently communicated,” the Cardinals said in their statement. “We fully support the league’s decision in this matter, which involves a single employee. Our focus remains on preparing for the start of training camp next week and the 2026 season.”
The NFL’s investigation determined that Gold provided inside information regarding the Cardinals’ 2026 draft selections before the picks were announced. He also participated in parlay bets on NFL and college games.
Gold was in his 13th season with the Cardinals, having been promoted to director of college scouting last summer. He spent the previous three years (2022-24) as the assistant director of college scouting after four seasons (2018-21) as a college scouting coordinator.
The NFL has suspended Cardinals executive Ryan Gold indefinitely for violating the league’s gambling policy, the league announced Friday. The suspension is effective immediately.
The NFL’s investigation determined that Gold provided inside information regarding the Cardinals’ draft selections before the picks were announced. He also participated in parlay bets on NFL and college games.
“The gambling policy, which is annually reviewed with all NFL personnel, strictly prohibits anyone in the NFL from participating in or facilitating any form of sports gambling, and from providing third parties non-public information,” the league said in a statement. “Although there is no reason to believe the integrity of any NFL game was affected, the league takes any violation of the gambling policy with the utmost seriousness.”
It is unclear how the NFL knew to begin investigating Gold.
Gold was in his 13th season with the Cardinals, having been promoted to director of college scouting last summer. He spent the previous three years (2022-24) as the assistant director of college scouting after four seasons (2018-21) as a college scouting coordinator.
Gold can appeal the suspension, according to the league.
When it comes to the NFL’s effort to send the Brian Flores case to arbitration, it’s apparently not over until the NFL says it’s over.
Regardless, the presiding judge has now made it abundantly clear that it’s over.
Despite a court ruling and an appeals court ruling that the claims brought by Brian Flores (against the Dolphins, Giants, Broncos, and Texans), Ray Horton (against the Titans), and Steve Wilks (against the Cardinals) must be decided in court, the NFL filed a motion to reconsider the ruling that slammed the door on arbitration.
On Wednesday, Judge Valerie Caproni denied the NFL’s latest motion.
The 15-page ruling begins with an expression of exasperation regarding the nearly four-and-a-half-year-old litigation: “This case continues to linger at the starting block. Or, to use a more fitting metaphor, this case continues to linger as the teams mill about in the players’ tunnels.”
Elsewhere in the written decision, there are some not-so-subtle indications of the judge’s impatience with the NFL’s efforts to keep fighting over a settled issue. From page 9: “Defendants can articulate no reason why these arguments were not raised in their response to Plaintiffs’ Motion for Reconsideration. . . . With sophisticated law firms, it is hard to fathom a plausible explanation.”
Also, from the same page: “Defendants opted for an iterative stream of arguments to buy themselves a few more months hanging out in the players’ tunnels. . . .”
Putting it another way, and as a judge said to the opposing lawyer in a case I was handling more than 20 years ago, “At some point, you stop arguing to the court and start arguing with the court.”
Judge Caproni’s order concludes like this: “Defendants’ seemingly-never-ending list of arguments why they should not have to litigate this case has run its course. Stepping back, while Defendants are free to spend endless attorneys’ fees to pursue the forum they think will be most advantageous to them, arguments about the superior efficiencies of arbitration ring hollow. . . . Instead of proceeding, discovery and motion practice for these three teams have been further delayed so this Court can deal with these teams’ attempt to take yet another run at how to avoid district court litigation and will, presumably, be delayed further while they pursue yet another appeal.”
It’s a mostly tactful way of saying to the NFL, “Enough. You’ve lost on this issue. Stop asking for arbitration and get to work on defending yourself in the litigation.”
Attorney Doug Wigdor issues a statement regarding the latest decision.
“At this point, the NFL and its teams have lost on this issue at the Second Circuit, were denied en banc review by the Second Circuit, were denied Supreme Court review and have now had the District Court twice confirm that the claims will not proceed in an NFL-controlled forum,” Wigdor said. “We hope the NFL and its teams will accept these rulings and proceed with the litigation.”
Presumably, that will happen. One of these days. Or, more accurately, one of these years.
It’s the five-year anniversary of the first championship the Rams have won while based in L.A. During the 2026 season, they’ll be commemorating the Super Bowl win by giving their fans a special gift.
The Rams announced on Thursday that the first 60,000 who enter SoFi Stadium for the Week 6 game against the Cardinals will receive a “limited-edition replica Championship ring with a special feature!”
The Cardinals game was likely hand-picked for one important reason — it’s the 2026 Rams home game that is likely to have the highest concentration of Rams fans.
It’s been one of the basic realities of returning to the market the Rams (and Raiders) abandoned for 20 years. A full generation of Angelenos came of age with no geographic connection to any NFL team. They were able to pick whichever team they wanted to follow.
Now, when those teams come to town, the local fans of that team are just as likely to show up for the game as the Rams fans are.
Enter the Cardinals. Of the eight teams that will play the Rams at SoFi Stadium this season (Giants, Bills, Cardinals, Chargers, Packers, Chiefs, Cowboys, and Seahawks), the Arizona game will be the one at which the fewest fans of the other team will show up.
It helps that the Cardinals aren’t expected to be very good. Even if they somehow run the table for the first five weeks (Chargers, Seahawks, 49ers, Giants, Lions), it’s unlikely that Cardinals fans will overrun the building the way that, say, 49ers fans do.
So, yes, if the goal is to ensure that the replica Rams rings end up on the fingers of Rams fans, Week 6 was the best occasion for the giveaway.
Quarterback Jacoby Brissett is still in a contract dispute with the Cardinals. But that didn’t stop him from preparing to be the team’s starter this week.
Via Jeremy Fowler of ESPN, Brissett brought several teammates to South Florida this week to work out in preparation for training camp.
Brissett posted a picture to social media showing himself, Marvin Harrison Jr., Trey McBride, Elijah Higgins, Kedon Slovis, and Semi Fehoko after a workout.
While Brissett did not attend the voluntary portion of the offseason program, he was at the team’s mandatory minicamp last month — though he did not participate in practice.
The Cardinals are implementing a new offense under head coach Mike LaFleur, who spent the last three seasons as Rams offensive coordinator.
Brissett is currently slated to earn $4.88 million in 2026, with a max value of $5.39 million, but only $1.5 million is guaranteed. LaFleur said earlier in the offseason that he wasn’t concerned with Brissett’s absence from the offseason program, as the quarterback has “done probably everything we’ve ever done schematically.”
Cardinals veterans are scheduled to report to training camp on July 22.
The Cardinals locked up left tackle Paris Johnson through the 2027 season by exercising their $19 million option on his contract, but that hasn’t stopped him from starting to think about his next long-term contract.
Josh Weinfuss of ESPN.com reported in June that Johnson wants to be “a $40 million-per-year left tackle,” but Commanders tackle Laremy Tunsil is currently at the top of the market with an average annual salary of just over $30 million and that would make for the kind of jump that one rarely sees in the NFL. Johnson was asked about that comment during an appearance on the PHNX Cardinals podcast and explained that “it’s not me thinking about getting the money, per se,” but about the frame of mind he wants to be in while facing pass rushers who are making that kind of money.
“When I started speaking on that, the question was more about how you would grade an elite tackle and how you start to measure yourself as an elite tackle,” Johnson said. “My answer was exactly this: when I watch tape, when I go to practice and when I play in a game, my mindset is to be the $40 million man. When I watch my tape, I ask myself, ‘Would you pay this guy $40 million?’ That’s how I watch my tape. That’s how I go out to practice. That’s how I play. Because the guy I’m lining up against, if he’s worth something, he’s worth at least $35 million to $50 million. Now, the tackle market isn’t there. The tackle market usually goes up by about one million over the next guy, and that’s just what it is. The D-linemen are not going for that. That’s another conversation. But my mindset is that elite guys who are rushing the quarterback — that’s what the market is for them. And I believe it takes an equivalent-level player to shut that guy down. So I’m not going out there thinking, ‘Pay me $28 million or $28.5 million.’”
Myles Garrett was added to the list of pass rushers that Johnson will have to tangle with in 2026 and shutting those opponents down probably won’t get Johnson to $40 million, but it would make a strong case for moving closer to the top of the list for tackles when his next contract is finalized.
The NFL is making a significant change to the offseason calendar for the 2027 season.
Tom Pelissero of NFL Media reports that the free agent negotiating window will open on March 9 next year. That is the same date that the two-day window opened this year, but the change comes in how close it will be to the end of the Scouting Combine.
NFL teams will wrap up their examinations and interrogations of incoming prospects on March 8 in 2027, which moves the league away from having a week or so between the two events as they have in past years.
Under that setup, the Combine has always been rife with table-setting for free agency as agents and team executives are all in the same place with their minds on the same things. With that gap eliminated, there will likely be even more of that work being done in Indianapolis so that teams are ready to make moves right from the starting gun.
Cardinals tight end Trey McBride is signed through the 2029 season, so he has good reason to be interested in who will be doing the quarterbacking in Arizona over the coming years.
Jacoby Brissett and Gardner Minshew are the veteran options heading into 2026, but Brissett’s absence from most of the offseason program left plenty of work for Minshew and third-round pick Carson Beck. The prospect of striking gold with Beck is an appealing one for the Cardinals and McBride was asked for his early impressions of the rookie during an appearance on Bussin’ With the Boys.
“He’s huge. He looks like a tight end,” McBride said. “I’m like s—t, bigger than me, you know? But, no, he’s a stud. He throws the ball really well. I think he has a chance to be a really good player in this league. . . . I don’t know about Week 1 unless something crazy happens, but he definitely has a chance to be a guy for sure.”
The Cardinals took running back Jeremiyah Love in the first round this April and they’ll have a core that involves Love, McBride and Beck in place for several years if everything can break their way this fall.
Cardinals tight end Trey McBride respects the Seahawks, but doesn’t like them.
Asked on Bussin’ With The Boys which NFC West rival he dislikes the most, McBride picked Seattle, saying they’re a good team in a good stadium, which makes Seattle a difficult place to play.
“To be honest, I think it’s Seattle,” McBride said. “That’s a tough place to play. Their defense is a bunch of shit talkers. They have a really good team, too, so I feel like every time we go to Seattle it’s such a hostile environment. Lumen Field is such a cool place to play, and they’ve gotten the best of us the last couple times, so it would be nice to get back on the winning side.”
Asked if the Seahawks’ defense locked him up, McBride pushed back on that. When the Cardinals played at Seattle in Week 10, McBride had nine catches for 127 yards and a touchdown in a 44-22 loss.
“I don’t know about locked me up, I went for like 130, but we lost,” McBride said.
Although McBride personally has had a couple of big games in Seattle, the Cardinals are 0-8 against the Seahawks in McBride’s four seasons in Arizona.
