Jacoby Brissett's Actual Cardinals Contract Includes Surprising Salary Cap Decision

The real numbers are here, and the Arizona Cardinals made an interesting move with Jacoby Brissett's contract.

Cardinals quarterback Jacoby Brissett (7) throws a pass during a training camp at State Farm Stadium in Glendale on July 23, 2026. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

ARIZONA — The Arizona Cardinals finally have Jacoby Brissett's contract dilemma behind them.

Arizona reached a reworked deal with their starting quarterback to give Brissett a pay raise ahead of 2026. Initial reports indicated he had a contract of $15.5 million that could be worth up to $21 million with incentives with no additional years added, still making him a free agent after this season.

The actual numbers have emerged from Brissett's deal, and the bookkeeping on Arizona's part to get over the finish line was interesting.

What Jacoby Brissett's New Contract Actually Looks Like

Arizona Cardinals quarterback Jacoby Brissett (7) practices during training camp at State Farm Stadium in Glendale on July 26, 2026. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

Figures via OverTheCap:

Base Salary: $9.7 million
Prorated Signing Bonus: $8.97 million
Workout Bonus: $50,000
Other Bonus: $240,000
Guaranteed Salary: $9.7 million
2026 Cap Number: $10.365 million

In total, Brissett got roughly $10 million guaranteed in raises.

Brissett's cap figure for 2026 only jumped by $1.175 million after the new deal.

Brissett had a void year added to his contract, which will carry a $7.22 million hit next season. It was interesting to note the Cardinals opted to not absorb the entire pay raise this offseason.

That was a similar route they took when cutting Kyler Murray, choosing to split his dead cap hit into two offseasons as opposed to just 2026. Brissett will join Murray in 2027 dead cap space if he doesn't play in Arizona, who also carries a $7.2 million dead cap hit next offseason similar to Brissett.

As CardsWire's Howard Balzer notes, the extra incentive money to get the contract up to $21 million as first pushed is also not listed on the actual figures of the contract.

"The only incentive listed is $45,000 for a likely to be earned incentive that isn’t known and counts against the cap immediately and $240,000 in unlikely to be earned incentives that don’t count, but would in 2027 if they are reached. That $45,000 is included in the $10.365 million mentioned earlier," he said.

The Cardinals were able to give Brissett the rise in pay he wanted ahead of 2026 without breaking the bank, though Arizona's willingness to take future charges on Brissett and Murray (which will total over $14 million next offseason assuming Brissett doesn't play for the Cardinals) is odd given the current state of the team and ample cap space available for Arizona this season.

The Cardinals currently rank eighth in the NFL in terms of cap space at $33.8 million.