The Arizona Cardinals have needs. Plenty of needs.
For one, a new head coach. And with whomever this guy is, along will come a full coaching staff if he doesn’t retain any of the current coaches. Usually,
the new guy brings his own.
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And a lot of other parts. Perhaps a new starting running back, a linebacker, an outside pass rusher, and maybe a new cornerback to play the slot?
Oh yeah, and what will transpire with the quarterback position? Will Kyler Murray return? And if so, will he slide right back into his starting position? Jacoby Brissett has one year left on his contract. Will he be named the starter? Perhaps, it will become an open competition with the best man winning the job.
What about backup Kedon Slovis? Will he be retained? He also has a year left on his contract, having inked a two-year $1.85 deal in 2025.
Okay, what if the team drafts a new quarterback? After all, they own the #3 slot in April’s NFL draft. They also have the second pick in Round 2 (#34), first choice in Round 3 (#65), fourth selection in Round 4 (#104), and the third slot in Round 5 (#141), plus a choice in the bottom three rounds.
The only QB worthy of the #3 pick in the first-round is Indiana signalcaller Fernando Mendoza. He has been ranked anywhere from the first overall pick to the ninth. It is possible that he could be available when Arizona is on the clock in the first round. Oregon QB Dante Moore was a projected Top-10 draft choice, but has since decided to remain in school another year. So, he is no longer available for consideration.
After that, the QB rankings are as follows: Ty Simpson – Alabama, #27; Garrett Nussmeier – LSU, #77; Carson Beck – Miami, #94; Trinidad Chambliss – Ole Miss, #99; Drew Allar – Penn State, #124; and Cade Klubnik – Clemson, #139.
So, if you cross-reference the paragraph that states where the Cardinals are drafting in each round with the above information regarding each QB draft ranking, you will see that Arizona should have its choice of a young quarterback in each round.
There is an issue with one of these quarterbacks, though: Trinidad Chambliss of Ole Miss.
Not with his abilities. He has proved in a short time in his single season at Ole Miss that he is an exciting athlete who needs some work, but can change the outcome of a ballgame. And no, he doesn’t have a strange illness or a recent injury.
Chambliss (6’-1”, 200 pounds) just isn’t ready to go to the NFL. He wants to stay another year. Apparently, being the “big man on campus” is a pretty 6-7 thing. It would seem that “the millionaire rookie in the NFL” would be an even cooler thing, but not to Chambliss.
The young quarterback is doing everything he can to remain in school another season. He filed a lawsuit on Friday challenging the NCAA’s ruling to deny him another year of college eligibility.
Chambliss is already 23 years old. He is part of two National Championship teams when his Ferris State Bulldogs, a D-2 college, defeated the Colorado Mines Orediggers 41-14 in the 2022 title game, and beat the #1 seed Valdosta State Blazers 49-14 for the 2024 crown. That year, Chambliss was named the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Player of the Year.
He spent four years at Ferris State and then transferred to Ole Miss via the transfer portal. He began as the backup but was thrown into the starting lineup when starter Austin Simmons became injured. In his first start, he tossed for 415 yards and three TDs.
This year, Ole Miss qualified for the College Football Playoff. They defeated Tulane and then Georgia, but lost a heartbreaker to Miami 31-27 in the semifinal contest. All of these games highlighted the effort and talent that Chambliss has. Folks who had never seen an Ole Miss game all year were now introduced to his capabilities.
For this season, Chambliss won the Conerly Trophy (given to the best player in the State of Mississippi), was named Second Team All-SEC, and voted the SEC Newcomer of the Year. He completed 294 receptions on 445 attempts for 3,937 yards, tossed 22 touchdowns with just three picks, had a 66.1% completion ratio, and a 155.4 QB rating. He had 133 rushing attempts for 527 yards and another eight scores. Keep in mind, he only played one season at the D-1 level.
Chambliss being drafted by the Cardinals may become a reality in the fourth round, and perhaps as early as Round 3. With Brissett ready to go in 2026 and perhaps Murray as well, this would allow Chambliss to sit a year and become a sponge from all the veteran experience.
But Chambliss wants to remain at Ole Miss and is stating he has two years of college eligibility left. This comes from the 2022 and 2023 seasons at Ferris State.
The attorney for Chambliss is stating that the quarterback had multiple illnesses that stemmed from his tonsils not being removed, as surgery was repeatedly put off. According to the Chambliss team, this went on for about seven years until he had surgery to remove his tonsils in 2024. Therefore, two of the four seasons he attended Ferris State should not have counted as eligible years.
The NCAA has stated that Ole Miss has not provided any paperwork that refutes that Chambliss had an illness that prevented him from playing those two seasons at Ferris State.
What is really going on is that Chambliss knows that he will not be a first-round draft pick in the 2026 NFL draft, and would rather play another year of college in order to bump his draft status. He would stand to lose millions if he were taken in rounds 3-5 this April.
And if he remains at Ole Miss, his NIL money will be huge. Therefore, it is a double financial whammy for him.
There aren’t any guarantees that Chambliss will be drafted by the Cardinals, but if you watched his playoff games, you realize he is an exciting player. And if he can sit for a full season, he could be one of those players taken in Day 2 that everyone will talk about for years, like Joe Montana (Round 3), Bart Starr (Round 17), Tom Brady (Round 6), or undrafted Arizona greats Jim Hart and Kurt Warner.
