NFL Exec Predicts Carson Beck Will Play for Cardinals in 2026

ARIZONA — The Arizona Cardinals' quarterback competition appears to be wide open, though the biggest wildcard rests on the throwing shoulder of rookie third-round pick Carson Beck.

Beck arrives to a room with veterans in Jacoby Brissett and Gardner Minshew ahead of him — yet Minshew is coming off a year where he sat as a backup and Brissett is currently in the midst of a contract holdout.

Is the door open for Beck to play in 2026? One NFL who spoke to NFL insider Jason La Canfora believes so.

"I think Beck is going to get a chance to play this season," the NFL exec said to La Canfora.

That just might be the case, regardless of Brissett's contract outcome.

The Cardinals' 2026 schedule is one of the toughest in the league, and unless Arizona completely shocks the NFL world, they're again expected to be near the bottom of the league's standings.

For Beck, that could bode well for his chances of getting on the field sooner as opposed to later with the Cardinals likely wanting to get some sort of look in their investment ahead of a 2027 quarterback class that's projected to have plenty of capable franchise quarterbacks.

Beck, when speaking with reporters this offseason, seemed to embrace the competition aspect of being a quarterback:

"It's such an interesting position. It's why I think it's the best position on Earth. There's only one guy out there. ... So I mean obviously I would love to play and perform," he said. "But again, we'll see where that takes me and really just showing up and going to go to work."

Beck's position as a third-round pick puts him in sort of a purgatory in terms of expectations, as he's not a solidified starter now or in the future as typically high picks are while he is clearly more ready to play than a Day 3 selection.

At 6-4, he brings ideal size to the quarterback position while Cardinals head coach Mike LaFleur was a big fan of his experience running NFL style offenses at Miami and Georgia.

"It's not like he hasn't had attached tight ends. It's not like he hasn't been in 12 personnel. It's not like he hasn't been under center and done a play-action fake or, shoot, even take a snap from under center like a lot of guys haven't," LaFleur said of Beck earlier this offseason.

"So it's just I would say the comfortability of playing under center, playing in the gun, playing with different formations, motions and stuff like that."

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