Most teams have a clear starting quarterback, obvious contenders for the job, or (at a minimum) concepts of a plan for the position.
The Cardinals, by all appearances, have none of the above.
G.M. Monti Ossenfort made clear this week that the Cardinals don’t have a starter. And to the extent a competition will be unfolding during the offseason program, Jacoby Brissett won’t be there unless and until he gets a new contract.
The other in-house options, for now, are Gardner Minshew and Kedon Slovis.
Before free agency started, Jimmy Garoppolo was linked to Arizona. The Cardinals pivoted to Minshew when talks with Garoppolo broke down.
Garoppolo remains available. Aaron Rodgers is on the market, too. (It’s hard to imagine him having any interest in the team that is stuck in a division with the Seahawks, Rams, and 49ers.) Derek Carr has made noise about a possible unretirement, but he wants to play for a contender. The Cardinals can’t fairly be described with that label.
That leaves the draft. Unless the Cardinals trade up to No. 1 (which is highly unlikely at this point, but not impossible), the next best option is Ty Simpson. They could, in theory, trade down and take Simpson in a lower spot. And there could be a team that sufficiently covets running back Jeremiyah Love to try to leapfrog the Titans at No. 4.
Other available free-agent options with starting experience include Russell Wilson and Tyrod Taylor. Most of the others have signed contracts to be backups (Carson Wentz, Joe Flacco) and a bridge starter (Kirk Cousins, if/when the Raiders take Fernando Mendoza).
As the cliche-because-it’s-true saying goes, you’re either getting better or you’re getting worse. At quarterback, there’s no indication that the Cardinals are getting better at the most important position on the team. And there’s no sign they have a clear plan for doing so.
Maybe the overriding plan, if there is one, is to accept reality for 2026 and allow nature to take its course. The prize could be dibs on whoever the top quarterback is after the 2026 college football season.
The popular assumption is that it will be Arch Manning. As we’ve seen, however, the player who emerges as the consensus number one for the next year could be a player no one is even thinking about currently. It happened with Mendoza. It happened with Joe Burrow.
Beyond the six games to be played within the NFC West, the Cardinals will face the four teams of the AFC West (which produced two playoff teams in 2025 and still includes the Chiefs), the four teams of the NFC East, and the Lions (who finished last in the NFC North). That’s a recipe for earning the first overall pick in 2027.
Not having a clear plan at quarterback becomes a key ingredient in the stew of factors that could position Arizona for its next shot at a generational talent without having to try very hard to make that happen, once the 2026 season launches.