All of the Arizona Cardinals’ voluntary OTAs and minicamps have come and gone. QB Jacoby Brissett wasn’t in attendance to any of them as he wants his contract re-negotiated.
What’s next is the mandatory veteran minicamp, which will run from June 8 to June 10. The minicamp will consist of practice sessions only on Tuesday and Wednesday. Apparently, Brissett has plans to show up for this event.
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The act of his presence at this minicamp does not
change anything. If he still wants to add years or money to his current deal, which expires after this season, that can remain in negotiation sessions with Cardinals GM Monti Ossenfort. If Brissett has been told that he should play for what he agreed upon, then there’s that aspect as well.
Most likely, the two sides will continue to work on this until one of them blinks.
It may seem that with Brissett showing up and suiting up, his leverage will alter. According to the Collective Bargaining Agreement signed with the Players’ Association, the Cardinals would be able to fine him up to $107,911 just for the no-show. And then again, the amount of work he will get in will depend on the coaching staff as well as Brissett himself.
Everyone understands negotiation and financial strategy. But what is concerning is that while Brissett is a 10-year seasoned veteran of the NFL and had an abundance of talent, there is a new head coach under the roof. And not just his presence alone, but he is installing a new offense, of which coach Mike LaFleur is expecting Brissett to know, understand, and implement. Brissett can study the playbook all he wants, but getting outside and running stuff is how an athlete gets the new terminology down.
Nobody wants a guy who will tell his receiver to go to the Buick and take a left.
Brissett’s current deal’s pay ranks #30 in the league, which is less than four backups and five guys who are still playing under their rookie deal.
With Brissett reporting in, this means he will be practicing under his old deal. In the interim, backup Gardner Minshew, Kedon Slovis, and rookie Carson Beck have been taking all reps.
After Kyler Murray was released, LaFleur named Brissett as this year’s starting QB. Shortly thereafter, Brissett asked for his deal to be restructured, and nobody has seen him since. Everyone can see Brissett’s side of this matter. He was signed as a cheap backup, and now all of a sudden, he has been named the starting quarterback of one of 32 NFL clubs after starting 12 games last season, going 1-11-0.
The idea is to install an offense that looks almost identical to both the Los Angeles Rams and the San Francisco 49ers, which is where LaFleur sprouted from their coaching tree.
