Cardinals Suddenly May Have Chance to Fix Their QB Future, If They’re Bold Enough

A new era is underway for the Arizona Cardinals with another new coaching staff being implemented. There's a much larger change coming at the quarterback position, however, as Kyler Murray is no longer with the franchise after seven seasons.

Murray's tenure with Arizona had its ups and downs, but the former number one overall pick provided more success at the position than the franchise has seen in some time, finishing top three all-time in both passing yards and passing touchdowns.

To prepare for the transition, the Cardinals gave Jacoby Brissett a two-year deal last offseason to serve as a bridge option, though he seems to be wanting a new deal. Arizona also signed veteran Gardner Minshew in free agency, providing the team with two proven options with low upside.

Neither Brissett nor Minshew should be perceived as long-term solutions for the team, of course, hence why the team drafted Miami's Carson Beck in the third round of this year's draft to compete for that role.

Arizona is expected to be one of the worst teams in the league, and quarterback play can and will impact that significantly. The current room of Brissett, Minshew, Beck, as well as Kedon Slovis, has the potential to make things interesting, though it's understandable why fans may have a bleak outlook.

Some will even be looking ahead to the 2027 NFL Draft's collection of quarterbacks, many of whom could have declared for the 2026 class.

With just a few months before the season starts to take form with training camp and the preseason, the Cardinals' quarterbacks have a lot to prove. It doesn't stand to reason to wonder if the team could look to add more competition, and now there are rumors surrounding Aaron Rodgers (for whatever that is worth).

Rodgers doesn't present a long-term solution either, leaving Beck as the sole contender.

The options have dried up quickly for the team to add more to the quarterback room, but a new name may be in the fold, and he should have the Cardinals' attention.

In case you aren't as well versed in the world of college football, Texas Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsby may be looking to the pros a year sooner than he envisioned. Sorsby was recently busted for a significant history of sports gambling, some of which he (allegedly) may or may not have been of legal age to participate in.

This news has brought into question whether he will be eligible to play his final college season, with a pending suspension from the NCAA. Although his camp seems intent on pushing for his eligibility, there's another avenue for him to take, and one that could benefit him much more: the NFL's Supplemental Draft.

The Supplemental Draft is a special event that is extremely subjective, with those able to enter typically finding themselves without any college eligibility. There have been a handful of notable selections from the Supplemental Draft, including longtime Cardinals safety Jalen Thompson, now with the Dallas Cowboys.

Being in the Supplemental Draft is not a bad thing and can greatly benefit teams and players.

The tradeoff with the draft is that you essentially bid picks. In order to select a player, a team must forfeit a future draft pick to do so. In the case of Thompson in the 2019 Supplemental Draft, the Cardinals gave up a fifth round pick in the 2020 NFL Draft to select him.

The move paid off, as Thompson became a multi-year starter for the team, though it makes this process much riskier and potentially a bigger gamble than the regular draft.

Should Sorsby decide to go pro, he is eligible to enter the Supplemental Draft, which should have more than a few teams considering him. There was tons of hype around Sorsby, who spent the last two seasons as the Cincinnati Bearcats' starting quarterback.

His move to Texas Tech paved the way for the Red Raiders to push for a national championship before everything fell apart, but the NFL has plenty of reasons to like the 22-year-old.

Sorsby started 24 games with Cincinnati, throwing for more than 5,600 yards and 45 touchdowns. He's also quite spry as a mobile quarterback, adding 1,027 rushing yards and 18 more scores on the ground. Sorsby looks like the modern NFL quarterback, and his best days may still be ahead of him.

This is where the Cardinals fit in. Again, the team did spend a third round pick on Beck, but he's currently the only player on this team who could or should be considered beyond 2026. Beck has his own question marks, too, and Arizona would be wise to make sure the room has as much depth as possible.

I did bring up the 2027 draft, but there's always the risk we run into on an annual basis that players return to college and the draft that was once supposed to be "the best ever" becomes a weak one like this year.

By picking Sorsby in the Supplemental Draft, the Cardinals can avoid a scenario like this year, where they were out of reach for a quarterback and were forced to settle on someone (not to discredit Beck). Though I am not among those who believe Sorsby was a round one quarterback as of May 2026, I could see a world where he evolves to that point, and I'm willing to bet I'm not alone in seeing that sort of scenario.

The tricky part becomes where you draft Sorsby. After all, whatever pick you use for him in the Supplemental Draft is subtracted from the next year. Using a first round pick would be foolish, especially if Arizona does wind up drafting high in 2027.

A second round pick may also be too rich, but if the team believes in Sorsby as the answer, then this is where the conversation starts, in my opinion. Anything beyond that, to me, is worth it.

It would be better for the Cardinals to get ahead of their quarterback situation now with the hope of figuring things out and then preparing themselves to add talent elsewhere in 2027. Sorsby gives them that chance and, in a worst case scenario, gives the team some youth and depth at a position currently lacking both.

That means even if Beck proves to be the guy, Cardinals fans can rest assured that they have a quality backup option who isn't over 30 years old.

If Sorsby does head that direction, and I believe it could be inevitable, then the Cardinals must heavily consider spending a pick on him. It's not often a team could have two lottery tickets to become their quarterback of the future with (likely) Day Two capital, but that's a potential position for the team.

If Arizona pulls the trigger and he or Beck works out, the team could bounce back quicker than anticipated and allow it to focus elsewhere in future drafts.

As far as I'm concerned, using a future draft pick on Sorsby in the Supplemental Draft is absolutely worth the price, as long as it isn't a first round choice. The upside is there, and Sorsby will be perceived as one of the Supplemental Draft's best prospects in a long, long time.

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