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The Kyler Murray era is officially over in Arizona after the slow accumulation of disappointment finally reached its breaking point this offseason. The 2019 number one overall pick arrived in the Grand Canyon State with the hopes and dreams of a Cardinals franchise starved of success squarely placed on his shoulders. To say that he didn’t deliver would be an understatement.
The former Heisman trophy winner managed just one winning season in Arizona and precisely one playoff appearance, a 34-11 drubbing against the Los Angeles Rams in 2021. Three of his seven seasons at State Farm Stadium have been riddled with injuries, culminating with last term, when he was downed in week 5 with a foot injury. He would regain his fitness, but never the starting job, which was handed to Jacoby Brissett for the remainder of the season.
Murray Departs
Now, Murray departs, and he does so with a post-June 1 dead cap hit of $47.5 million in 2026, with a further $7.2 million to follow in 2027. He has since signed for the Minnesota Vikings on a league minimum deal, and he has left the Cardinals in turmoil. Online betting sites see no hope for them in 2026. The latest odds from Lucky Rebel Sportsbook position them as a +1800 outsider to reach the playoffs next season, the longest odds of anybody and by some distance.
Much of that pessimism stems from a quarterback room that does little to inspire hope. Brissett, Gardner, Minshew, and rookie Carson Beck are the names currently in the building. But which of them will start the week 1 opener against the Los Angeles Chargers?
Jacoby Brissett
Last season, Jacoby Brissett was supposed to be a placeholder for the injured Murray. Instead, he completed passes for 3,366 yards, 23 touchdowns, and just eight interceptions across 12 starts in Arizona’s colors. Those numbers hardly set the world alight, but they did enough to convince the Cardinals’ front office to torch $47.5 million on a franchise quarterback, knowing that they had a reliable pair of hands that could lead them through their dark days.
Brissett was always QB1 in Arizona. It just took the Cardinals 9 weeks to figure it out. pic.twitter.com/B30BjQ9JI8
— Lucky Rebel (@LuckyRebel__) November 4, 2025
Now, however, knowing that he’s likely to be the starter in 2026, Brissett is surprisingly holding out for a starter-caliber extension. A man who has spent a decade being the backup plan is, with the full force of earned leverage, demanding to be treated like a starter, whether Arizona likes it or not. It’s audacious, and it remains to be seen whether the Cardinals crack or stick to their guns.
Brissett is a stabilizer in a system that desperately needs one, but stabilizing a 3-14 team and transforming it into a playoff contender are entirely different assignments.
Gardner Minshew
Consider what it actually looks like to be Gardner Minshew in 2026. You spent a year in Kansas City, sitting behind Patrick Mahomes, absorbing the architecture of one of the most sophisticated offences in NFL history — learning the rhythm of a system that turns average players into stars. You watched Mahomes dissect coverages from the sideline every week. You catalogued everything. And still, when free agency opened, your market was: Arizona, as the second option behind a career backup.
That is either deeply discouraging or quietly liberating, depending entirely on the psychology of the man experiencing it. Minshew has been here before — Jacksonville, Philadelphia, Indianapolis, Las Vegas, Kansas City — a career defined by proving things nobody wanted proved. His 3,305-yard campaign with the Colts in 2023 was a proof of concept that apparently convinced no front office to hand him permanent keys. That is its own complicated story.
But here’s what gets overlooked: Minshew may play better precisely because nobody in Arizona is counting on him. There’s a looseness to a quarterback without franchise expectations hanging from his shoulders, a play-fast quality that can destabilize defenses that have spent the week preparing for the guy they think is starting. He arrived on a one-year deal, knowing exactly what this is — an audition in a building where the lead role is technically available. If that doesn’t sharpen a competitor, nothing will.
Carson Beck
Carson Beck was picked 65th overall in the 2026 NFL draft, first pick of the third round, third quarterback off the board in 2026 behind Fernando Mendoza and Ty Simpson. He walked into the Arizona Cardinals’ draft room carrying two national championship rings and a résumé that includes leading Miami to a shock College Football Playoff national championship appearance after dismantling heavily favored Ohio State in the quarterfinals. The Cardinals’ official plan is for him to sit and learn. Beck has heard plans before.
He spent his college career at Georgia, accumulating titles as Stetson Bennett’s backup, transferred to Miami, and proceeded to lead the Hurricanes to the grandest stage in college football. He knows what it means to wait — and he knows what it means to seize the moment when the door opens.
Can a third-round rookie with a national championship appearance on his résumé really be kept on the bench if he outplays both Brissett and Minshew in training camp? The Cardinals open against the Los Angeles Chargers in a division that also contains San Francisco’s loaded roster — the arithmetic of throwing a rookie into that environment from Week 1 is genuinely terrifying. But the arithmetic of wasting another season with a quarterback who can’t move the needle is worse.
