Cardinals Coach Ends QB Drama With Major Jacoby Brissett Decision

GLENDALE — The Arizona Cardinals and quarterback Jacoby Brissett have come to a reported agreement on a restructured deal ahead of the 2026 season.

The details are still trickling in for Brissett's new deal, which added no years but gave him a significant bump in pay as Arizona's projected starting quarterback.

Brissett, 33, is fresh off a season where he established new career-highs in passing yards and touchdowns — though the Cardinals finished with a 1-11 record under his watch.

There's hope Arizona can flip the script in 2026 under the new guidance of head coach/play-caller Mike LaFleur.

"Happy for him. Happy for our team. It was productive, you know, and for it to get done now, sooner rather than later, is good," LaFleur said when speaking to reporters an hour after the news dropped.

The Cardinals coach said the negotiations, which began far earlier in the offseason, were never a distraction for the team.

After all the noise, Arizona has their starting quarterback ready to roll.

"We're gonna have competition throughout our groups, obviously at any position, but with everything that was just signed, starting in two days he'll go with the ones," LaFleur said of Brissett, who will be running with the first team next week.

Gardner Minshew will now be working with the second unit, as confirmed by LaFleur.

Brissett's contract news was well received in the locker room, as players such as Trey McBride and Mack Wilson were vocal on social media after the news broke.

LFG 🤪
— Trey McBride (@mcbtrey) July 26, 2026

7 🚀🤞🏾
— Rocketship 🚀 (@MackWilson) July 26, 2026

So what makes Brissett such a good fit in LaFleur's offense?

"I think he has the ability to throw it at all three levels," LaFleur said of Brissett before later likening him to another tenured veteran in Joe Flacco.

"If we need to push it down the field on the third level, I think he's got it. Obviously the intermediate ball, whether he has to take a little off it, layer it, whatnot, check it down, do all those kind of things. I feel like he, as I've watched him, and I'm excited to get working with him all the way up till September 13th, just his rhythm back there. There's just a consistency when I watch him when he takes a snap with his drops, with his eyes."

Now, it's about getting Brissett caught up to speed before preseason action begins.

"We want to still get him up to speed in terms of not just schematically — I'm really not even worried about that with him because of what I've always told you guys. He doesn't need to learn defense. Doesn't need to learn the speed of the game. Doesn't even really need to learn our players per se," he said.

"But man, practice is still very important, and getting him just with the routes on air, giving him one more day off in terms of tomorrow with the whole team and then getting him integrated with the first team, and getting rolling."

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