Cardinals' plans for Jacoby Brissett revealed with Kyler Murray release, Gardner Minshew signing

The Arizona Cardinals aren't taking a big swing at quarterback this season.

That is, unless you're a super big fan of Jacoby Brissett or Gardner Minshew.

The Cardinals cleared up the room with the decision to release Kyler Murray, but it meant they don't have a quality starting QB for the season ahead.

Instead, it comes down to Brissett and Minshew, who signed a free agent contract after a year with the Kansas City Chiefs.

ESPN's Bill Barnwell expects the Cardinals to start Brissett, more or less punting on the season ahead to look toward the 2027 NFL Draft and its potentially strong quarterbacks.

"This is a perfectly feeble effort at the quarterback position," Barnwell writes. "Brissett will start and Minshew will back up in Arizona, as the Cardinals clearly turn their eyes to the young quarterbacks of the 2027 draft class, headlined by Manning, the rising junior at Texas. Though Manning was eligible for the 2026 class, he elected to return to school after an up-and-down season. It's widely expected that, on sheer talent alone, he will be the top QB selected in 2027. And if someone (Dante Moore from Oregon? LaNorris Sellers from South Carolina?) outperforms and displaces him, all the better."

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Cardinals fans probably won't enjoy this too much, but it's the path Arizona felt it had to take.

After all, how else are they going to find the next... Murray?

"The Cards will enter the 2026 season with either the 31st- or 32nd-best quarterback room and thank their lucky stars that the Browns are sharing that cellar space with them," Barnwell writes.

There had been some speculation that the Cardinals would go after Malik Willis. That didn't happen, though.

Instead, they ride forward with two long-term backups, one of whom will have to start by default.

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