Piecing together the Cardinals’ next franchise quarterback
What are the Arizona Cardinals looking for when it comes to their next franchise quarterback?
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TEMPE — What makes a franchise quarterback?
That’s the question general manager Monti Ossenfort is facing for the first time in his Arizona Cardinals tenure.
As far as answering it, it starts with two crucial areas when evaluating prospects:
– Accuracy
– Decision-making
“Those are always at the forefront,” Ossenfort said Thursday. “Every year, there are different flavors of quarterbacks, different sizes, different styles. It looks different. The college game looks different than the NFL game does.
“It’s up to us to really look at those guys and project how they’re going to translate to our league. Every year’s different and we certainly did our share of evaluation on the quarterbacks in this year’s draft.”
Cardinals GM Monti Ossenfort pinpointed two big characteristics he looks for when evaluating QB prospects:
– Accuracy
– Decision making“Those are always at the forefront. … Every year’s different and we certainly did our share of evaluations on the quarterbacks in this… pic.twitter.com/8m8FNLek3w
— Tyler Drake (@Tdrake4sports) April 16, 2026
New head coach Mike LaFleur added two more to that list when discussing college prospect traits during last month’s NFL owners’ meetings in Phoenix.
– Toughness
– Natural thrower
“If you can’t sit back in the pocket and you’re flinching back there, you got no chance, right? … And then natural thrower. Is it coming out tight, compact, all that, decision-making, timing, accuracy?” LaFleur said.
Having a list of main characteristics is great, as long as there’s a quarterback capable of checking those boxes.
Is one waiting in this draft?
Looking at this batch of quarterback prospects, the trio of Ty Simpson, Drew Allar and Carson Beck feels about the closest to fulfilling most of those requirements.
All three can spin it. Allar wrapped up his 45-game stint at Penn State with the highest completion percentage in school history at 63.2%. How much would that number have shifted had he stayed healthy and not suffered a broken ankle six games into the season?
Beck, meanwhile, posted a 72.4% completion percentage twice as a starter in two of the past three years. He led the ACC this past season at Miami. But sandwiched between those numbers are an SEC-leading 12 interceptions in Beck’s final year at Georgia. He added another 12 picks to the resume in 2025 (second in the ACC).
Simpson paced the SEC in attempts (473) and completions (305) for a 64.5% completion percentage in his first and only year as Alabama’s starter. That does, however, include a four-game finishing stretch of completing just 57.1% of his passes.
And though Simpson might pace the other two in pocket presence, Allar and Beck have a leg up on the Alabama prospect in the stature department.
At 6-foot-5, 228 pounds and 6-foot-4, 233 pounds, respectively, Allar and Beck better fit the mold of what LaFleur envisions his quarterback to be than the 6-foot-1, 211-pound Simpson.
Toughness isn’t defined solely by how much someone weighs or how tall they are, but in the NFL, having more of both is a good start.
They also have Simpson — who sat behind Bryce Young and Jalen Milroe for three seasons — beat when it comes to experience (15 starts), with Beck (43) and Allar (35) starting multiple college seasons.
“I think with that you got to look at the reasons for that. There are advantages to time on task. There are. There really are,” Ossenfort said. “I think you got to look at the why. Why is there not as big of a body of work? And then ultimately, you’re going to evaluate the tape that you have to evaluate.”
Taking all that information into account, plus the cost of business, Allar gets the slight nod. On top of being a bigger quarterback for LaFleur to work with, he also has valuable experience and wouldn’t take a first- or second-round pick to get. Getting that extra QB lottery ticket while addressing other needs higher up in the draft isn’t a bad idea whatsoever.
Allar also doesn’t have to play right away. While the Cardinals won’t come out and say it, Jacoby Brissett is expected to be the starting quarterback for Arizona. If he’s not the guy, Gardner Minshew is the next man up. Both present bridge options for the franchise.
Why burn those bridges before you truly use them by throwing a rookie into the fire?
Let him get his feet wet behind Brissett and see where the team is at midseason. If things are awry — like many expect them to be — crank up the on-the-job training with the rookie running things the rest of the way.
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Comments
16 Comments
Cut Jacoby
Start Gardner
Draft someone 2nd round or later with multiple years of college starting experience. If Gardner is failing by midseason, give the draft pick some starts.
If neither work, draft someone better in a stronger QB draft next year
It appears as if Monti is eliminating Allar and Beck from consideration, if him saying that he doesn't want QBs who flinch or are not accurate. Allar is the King of Flinching, Beck is his Queen. Neither of those guys has shown themselves to be accurate.
The Diamond in the Rough is this year's draft is Garrett Nussmeier. He killed it at the Combine, just months after doctor's finally diagnosed what Nussmeier had been playing through for several years. The Nussmeier at the Combine was a light year improvement over what he had been during the regular season at LSU. Nussmeier has a gigantic skillset. The son of Doug Nussmeier who has been either an OC/QB in the NFL for over 20 years, means that he's been eating, sleeping and drinking the nuances of playing the position since he was 5. At the Combine Nussmeier demonstrated not only arm talent but the ability to make the right kind of throw with a proficiency that only Mendoza was demonstrating. He also killed it on the chalk board and in interviews.
I wouldn't mind Arizona trading the 3rd pick either to get more picks. As you likely know, IMHO, the guy with the best tape in this entire draft, is Ruben Bain, the guy who absolutely destroyed every opponent he played against for the last 2 years. I would take Bain at 3 to make sure I got him, but most Mock Drafts I've seen have him falling.
The only guy I think is worth drafting is Nussmeier, but I would think that anything more than the Cardinals current 3rd Round pick, would be overspending, because until you see a QB under live, regular season fire, you never know what you're really getting - Max Hall is a perfect example. The problem with drafting QBs is that there are so many teams who are desperate and will overspend to get a QB whom the Cardinals would be competing with this year, the Cardinals would likely be forced to overspend too, which is a bad idea.
The Cardinals have so many better uses of their draft pick besides taking one where they have to overspend, since none appear anywhere close to the Franchise QB that's necessary to compete in the Playoffs let alone win a Ring. IMHO, Nussmeier's huge chip over every other QB in this draft, including Mendoza, is his pedigree. Dad, Doug Nussmeier has been either a QB Coach/ OC for over 20 years, and is considered one of the best game planner/ schemers in the league. The story goes is that Garrett has been going to QB school since he was about 5 or so, so it shouldn't come as any surprise, this guy sees the field and can process information quick enough to change the play at the LOS before the clock runs out. He killed it on the Chalk Board in the Combine and because he was finally healthy, was about to show case serious arm talent in addition to skill with knowing what kinds of throws to make.
The good part about this draft is that there are almost a dozen OT whom experts believe are good enough to start. IMHO, Brissett and Mishew are good enough to get Arizona thru the season. Another reason I wouldn't want to draft a QB is I would like to see Arizona have the highest draft pick possible. At this time of the season, I try hard to ignore almost everyone's Mock Draft as well as my own preferences, and focus on channelling my energy toward helping the Cardinals hit on every one of their picks.