The Arizona Cardinals were finally able to close the books on the biggest story of the offseason on Sunday. They agreed to a new contract with quarterback Jacoby Brissett. He now will make more than $15 million in 2026 and can make as much as $21 million.
Brissett will start getting starter reps in training camp on Tuesday.
He had an interesting response when he addressed the media on Sunday after his deal was done.
Obviously, it didn't look good to many for a career journeyman quarterback to hold out after the Cardinals went 1-11 in his 12 starts, looking for more money. He did have career numbers in those 12 games, but he failed in every late-game opportunity he had to win a game. He is 20-45 in his career as a starter and 2-15 over the last
two seasons.
He was asked how he would respond to fans who are skeptical of the offseason holdout after the Cardinals were so bad when he was the starter.
His response? "I couldn't care less," he said. "(The) deal got done."
On one hand, players and coaches often say they try to avoid outside noise like that, and that generally is a good thing. They should focus on their play on the field, to what coaches tell them and how they are perceived by their teammates.
But this wasn't about on-field play, it was an opportunity to say publicly that he is has been focused on football and improving and winning games. Instead, he simply said he doesn't care what people think because he got his money.
And while that is huge, his lack of reps in the offseason and lack of knowledge of the new offensive system suggest he wasn't even studying the playbook while he was away from the team.
The contract is out of the way. Now it is time to be all about football, but we will see if his downtime in an offense he hasn't run before will be impacted.
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This article originally appeared on Cards Wire: Jacoby Brissett has little to say to fans skeptical of offseason holdout
