Cardinals' 2026 Plan for Carson Beck Is Pretty Revealing

ARIZONA — The Arizona Cardinals enter their regular season opener with Carson Beck's development near the top of their mind.

Even if he's not a starter.

Yet.

The third-round rookie played in one preseason game before suffering a rib injury, one that kept him out for Arizona's final three preseason games. Beck is Arizona's QB3 on the depth chart behind Jacoby Brissett and Gardner Minshew to begin the regular season.

That likely won't be the case once the dust settles on 2026, as the Cardinals need to see Beck play at some point before making a huge decision at quarterback this coming offseason.

That's the buzz online surrounding the team, and while it's not clear exactly how much we'll see Beck this season — the Cardinals are obviously investing in their rookie quarterback.

Cardinals' Carson Beck Development Plan

Arizona Cardinals QB Carson Bec — Arizona Cardinals quarterback Carson Beck (19) practices during training camp at State Farm Stadium in Glendale on July 26, 2026. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

Cardinals head coach Mike LaFleur met with reporters this week and opened up on Beck's development plan:

"I told you guys I would tell you. So typically, not all the time but typically, the backup quarterback who is Gardner [Minshew] gets all the the look-squad reps if you will. So 32 [reps] on Wednesday, 36 on Thursday, 20 on Friday. Obviously, you don't practice on Saturdays. With our situation, we're splitting it up, making sure that Carson is connected with it," he said.

"Regardless even if we had not done that, the other thing that we do is with those potential inactives, the practice squad guys, the guys that just don't get a ton of reps with their side after practice, they have a 5-10 minute window where in Carson's case he can spot throw through the [game] script and stuff like that.

"So try to keep him connected. As we know, you're one or two plays away from being a guy. So you got to keep them connected with that and continue their development."

Reps Are Gold For Carson Beck

You often hear reps are gold in the NFL. Beck played just one game and hasn't seen live action since. Once the regular season arrives, practice reps are mostly allocated to starters with backups not seeing much action.

For Beck to cut into Minshew's workload as a secondary option is fairly telling — not on Minshew, but rather the Cardinals' intentions on wanting Beck to be as prepared as possible for if/when the time comes for him to take the field. Both Brissett and Minshew have been named possible trade candidates for when the midseason deadline arrives.

"It's one of those things, and we talked to Gardner. We've communicated with him. Gardner's played a lot of football, and Carson hasn't in the NFL," LaFleur continued.

"And so, as you're trying to develop these guys, we just thought it was right to do that. Had Gardner been a second-year guy and was our number two, then probably wouldn't be doing this. But because he has played so much football, so much meaningful football in this league, [he] understands this system. Obviously, took all the reps through OTAs, took a ton of reps in training camp. That's why we felt comfortable being able to do this."

Beck won't play in Week 1. Even if Brissett goes down early in 2026, Minshew just might be their guy.

However, all signs point to Beck gearing up for some sort of action this season.

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