The Seattle Seahawks, Los Angeles Rams, and San Francisco 49ers form the most powerful trio of teams in any specific division in the NFL. The Arizona Cardinals round out the NFC West, but some team has to bring up the bottom. That's where Arizona comes in.
To make matters worse for the Cardinals, their already laughable quarterback situation and team culture are only getting worse this offseason. The latest issue is that veteran quarterback Jacoby Brissett, who has bounced around the league quite a bit and has never been a long-term QB1, is refusing to show up at voluntary team activities currently.
He wants more money, basically, or at least more of his 2026 contract guaranteed. He is assuming he will be the starter heading into next year, which is not a safe assumption, as the Cardinals signed Gardner Minshew in free agency and drafted Carson Beck in the third round.
Seattle Seahawks' NFC West rivals, the Arizona Cardinals, have a Jacoby Brissett-sized mess
To be fair, Minshew has basically followed the career arc of Brissett, in that he has been a decent backup and played well in spots, but no team's dream of a long-term starter.
As for Beck, many think he was overdrafted. He could have gone later in the 2026 NFL draft, but Arizona decided to spend a relatively high-round pick on a player who might be a career backup. It was an odd move.
But also a classic one for the Arizona Cardinals. The reason they haven't won the NFC West since 2015, while finishing last five times since then, is because the organization seems driven to have the right choice directly in front of them and decide to go in a different direction.
Arizona has a new head coach entering 2026, and Mike LaFleur comes from a good football family (his brother, Matt, has been a successful head coach for the Green Bay Packers since 2019) and likely knows his stuff. But Arizona is the place where people go to have their head coaching careers die. LaFleur is the team's fourth head coach since 2018.
The Jacoby Brissett situation is simply one he didn't need. LaFleur already had a choice about who to start on a team that is going nowhere in 2026 (and maybe beyond). Minshew probably gives the team just as good a chance to win games next season. Brissett went 1-11 as a starter for Arizona in 2025, after all. His career mark is 20-45.
And sure, the Cardinals' defense was terrible last season, but that issue might have been exacerbated by the fact that the offense kept putting the opposite side of the ball in terrible situations. For Seattle Seahawks fans, the hope is that the Cardinals' awfulness continues.
The other part of the Jacoby Brissett situation (in which LaFleur has said that the team has "had contact, I'll leave it at that") is that maybe the veteran quarterback is just being smart. Maybe not showing up to OTAs is his way of forcing himself out of playing for the Cardinals. The ship is continually sinking, and he wants to jump off.
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