The Arizona Cardinals have a quarterback problem going into this year’s training camp.
Not enough bodies? No. None of the guys has any talent? Nope. Need players who have more NFL experience? Que va!
RELATED: CARDINALS & BRISSETT ‘SIGNIFICANTLY’ FAR APART
The problem then? Last year’s starter, Jacoby Brissett, wants to be paid more going into 2026.
He signed a two-year deal before the 2025 season for $12.5 million. The premise was that Brissett would be starting QB Kyler Murray’s backup. $6.25 million is a good
haul to dress out, stand on the sideline, and hold the tablet for just 17 weeks out of the calendar year.
Besides, Brissett (6’-4”, 235 pounds) was used to the backup QB label. In his 10 years in the league, he has only been considered the starter for two of those seasons while with the Indianapolis Colts. Instead of keeping him on, they drafted QB Anthony Richardson in the first round instead and moved on.
While with the Cleveland Browns, Brissett started the first 11 games of the 2022 season. Isn’t that considered him being the starter? However, their starting QB, Deshaun Watson, was on an 11-game suspension. Once Week 11 came and went, Watson played the remainder of the schedule while Brissett played “Candy Crush” on the tablet along the sideline as he collected game checks.
The Brissett journey
Every professional player wants to start. But a lot of guys are just as happy getting those direct deposits every two weeks while only practicing. There isn’t any pressure to win for the backup. It is also a lot better for your body in the long run, and on Monday morning, trying to get out of bed. Many a backup made great money, stayed in the league a long time, became vested, and hung up his cleats without long-term knee or CTE problems.
We here at Revenge of the Birds vote to be paid $6.25 million and never write a single word, but have the keyboard all dusted off at the ready. And remember, that deal is only for 17 weeks. Find us drinking a Mai Tai or a Gold Miner Single Barrel 13-year rum and Coke somewhere warm during those other months.
Editor’s note: We used to drink Captain Morgan or the cheaper Gold Miner Single Barrel 6-year rum, but hey, now we don’t worry about the bill, eh?
After Murray became injured, Brissett took over and played the final 12 games. Murray never returned to the lineup, or at least the Cardinals did not bring him back when his 21-day window opened, and then the franchise released him.
Then Mike LaFleur was hired. He stated that he didn’t want to go through a lengthy QB battle, so before any of the OTAs, he gave Brissett his blessing and named him the starting quarterback.
Already in the QB room was holdover Kedon Slovin (6’-2”, 223 pounds). In free agency, GM Monti Ossenfort made a concerted effort to find a dependable, experienced backup and signed journeyman Gardner Minshew (6’-1, 225 pounds), who has played in 63 games with 47 starts. In April’s NFL draft, Carson Beck (6’-5”, 233 pounds) of the University of Miami was selected.
No más mariscales de campo bajos.
And everything appeared to line up for LaFleur. Brissett would start, Gardner would settle in as the backup, Beck would sit a year to learn and develop, while Slovis would be waived, reclaimed, and sit on the practice squad in case someone became injured.
But hold the phone. By the way, where did this idiom originate? Newspaper reporters, while calling in a story to their editor over a pay phone, would get additional breaking details and say, “Hold the phone (or line).”
Being named the starting quarterback for one of 32 NFL teams, Brissett realized he would be getting pennies on the dollar for his work. In fact, right this moment, he is ranked #30 in the league in QB pay @ $6.25 million. Four guys on their rookie deal are getting paid more. Another four signalcallers who are their team’s backup will receive a larger salary than the Cardinals’ starter.
Guys like Davis Mills. Marcus Mariota. Rookies such as Bryce Young and Drake Maye.
That didn’t sit well with Brissett. It still does. And it should.
But he remains under contract. He inked a two-year deal. Nobody made him sign that contract. After the Colts cut him loose, he was on a run of being a one-year guy for the Miami Dolphins, Browns, Washington Commanders, and New England Patriots. Five seasons with five clubs. So, that two-year agreement sounded pretty sweet.
That is, until he became “the undisputed guy.”
No quarterback battles
Only taking the number ones in practice. Not having to actually play in the preseason. No constant badgering questions from the media. Brissett won the job just on game tape alone.
And during the final mandatory minicamp, LaFleur may or may not have taken away that starting title with Brissett. The new head coach didn’t really say it, but it was implied. Meanwhile, Minshew, Slovis, and Beck showed up for everything, sweated, asked questions, and took snaps. A new offense being installed requires a lot of book study and getting reps in practices. Brissett hasn’t taken a single rep with this new offense yet.
So, here we are. Brissett assumes he will be the Week 1 starter. But he doesn’t want to be paid $6.25 million when guys like Daniel Jones are making $44 million a year, or Malik Willis’ $22.5 million, or the $20 million Justin Fields is receiving.
Brissett isn’t looking for Joe Burrow coinage ($55M) or Sam Darnold ($33.5M). But can he at least be paid more than the Cam Ward/Caleb Williams/Bryce Young/Jayden Daniels/Drake Maye rookie train?
Ossenfort doesn’t have to budge a single inch. Brissett is under contract. Then he played a dozen live games last year. Fans will point to the fact that a deal is a deal. They also argue that the Cardinals went 1-11-0 during those contests so it’s not like he took them to the promised land. So why, exactly, would Arizona pay Brissett any more Denaro when the only thing he has proved is that he can remain vertical?
It’s not like Brissett came in for Murray and played 12 games and navigated them like Jim Hart in his best season. Brissett played exceptional a few games, including the 452 yards he tossed against the San Francisco 49ers that broke the NFL record for the most attempts in a single game (57). As great an individual performance as that was, the Cardinals still lost. Badly, to be factual.
Roll out the new idea
There is an avenue that Ossenfort can travel down that would satisfy everyone involved.
Game incentives. Extensive performance and playoff enticements. Brissett can make up to $9 million more.
These conditions for additional payments involve:
- On-field performance
- Team success
- Regular season wins
- Winning the starting job
- Playing time percentage
- Winning the division
- Making the post-season
- Winning playoff games
- Winning the Super Bowl
Brissett would keep his contract, which is essentially a one-year deal, and if he is lightning in a bottle, then it would trigger certain incentive pay increases. The beauty for him is that he has 17 opportunities to increase his pay grade instead of being signed as an emergency option for a team that just lost its QB.
He could earn additional bonuses based on team success:
- Regular Season Wins: $75,000 for each win during regular-season games
- Wild Card Win: $250,000
- Divisional Playoff Win: $500,000
- NFC Championship Win: $1 million
- Super Bowl Win: $2 million
Other incentives could kick in, such as a bonus for capturing the division title, leading the league in certain categories, or throwing for so many yards, tossing a certain number of passing touchdowns, reaching a set number of rushing yards plus rushing touchdowns, game starts, percentage of game snaps played, total offensive team points, and a windfall if any receiver reaches the 1,000-yard plateau. The last one is created in order not to favor a certain player and allows Brissett to pad the stats of as many pass catchers as possible.
What does this system achieve?
Wanting to restructure his current contract would simply go away.
For another, Brissett would know he can make more, but he has to accomplish this on the field. Stats become cash. Four new teams, on average, make the NFL playoffs each year. It would become Brissett’s mission to make this happen and get paid in the process.
And to get paid a bonus for each win? It guarantees that Brissett would now be in training camp instead of home watching episodes of “Karamao.”
No quarterback drama at all. Everyone is learning the same system at the same time.
Win for the QB. Win for the coaching staff. Win for the GM. Win for the front office.
Win for the fans.
