Cardinals QB Jacoby Brissett is worth investing in for this season

The Cardinals have had a rough decade. Blunders abound and embarrassments never seem to stop. As a result, it’s perfectly fair to question every big decision the team makes, including acquiescing to the contract demands of Jacoby Brissett.

But it’s horribly wrong to disrespect the player. Yet many have crossed that line following Brissett’s significant and warranted bump in salary.

Ridicule Brissett for producing one victory in 12 starts last season, and you are telling me you did not watch much of our NFL franchise in 2025. You did not see him stand tall in the pocket, get sacked 43 times, getting hit over 100 times while playing behind a porous offensive line with no running game.

He never once lost his nerve. He never once looked scared. He never once rolled his eyes at teammates or carried the body language of a grumpy cat.

Wide receiver Michael Wilson was an afterthought when Kyler Murray went down with a mysterious injury. He became a star with Brissett at the helm. In the final nine games of the season, the Cardinals defense allowed 317 points, an average of 35.2 points per game. And yet the quarterback was the problem?

Granted, Brissett was not great at the end of close games. But neither were the head coach or the play caller, both of whom usually turtled and went soft whenever the outcome was on the line.

Many of the haters are diehard Murray fans who won’t concede, who won’t let go and who clearly don’t value courage at the position. By the time Murray took a snap off the cage of his helmet against the Titans and refused to dive on the loose ball — which occurred long after he stopped running the ball for the good of the team — it was clear he didn’t have much courage left in the tank.

On the other hand, Brissett’s toughness was a revelation. That’s why a handful of teammates (including Marvin Harrison Jr. and Trey McBride) went to South Florida to train with their disgruntled quarterback. That’s why Budda Baker implored the Cardinals to honor his contract demands.

You can argue our NFL franchise would’ve been better suited to soft tank their way to a top three pick in the 2027 NFL draft. But what true fan cares about the money Michael Bidwill is saving? What true fan doesn’t want to see Brissett in a revamped offense, surrounded by an army of skill players, to see if they can catch lightning in a bottle?

If it doesn’t work inside a brutal NFC West, they can transition whenever they deem appropriate. All they lose is money. But at least they’re giving Brissett what he’s due.

Finally, will you not respect Brissett for his conviction, for standing on principle, for acting as his own agent? He is guaranteed just over $15 million, a pittance for an NFL starting quarterback. He could earn $21 million with incentives, but only if he plays so well the Cardinals simply can’t replace him.

Contrast that approach to Murray’s $230.5 million contract that featured $160 million in guaranteed money extracted by an agent who did all the dirty work, who chose to embarrass Bidwill and the entire organization, while Murray acted like an innocent bystander.

If anything, the Cardinals deserve harsh criticism for giving into Brissett’s modest demands so late in the game, wasting valuable reps and preparation time. That’s another egregious unforced error by Bidwill. Or maybe it’s a concession that Carson Beck is not ready to be an NFL quarterback, incapable of making Brissett irrelevant, that he has not exactly wowed the coaching staff. That’s something we can all gauge with our own eyes when the preseason games begin on Aug. 6th.

Reach Bickley at dbickley@arizonasports.com. Listen to Bickley & Marotta weekdays from 6 a.m. – 10 a.m. on Arizona Sports 98.7.

Related

The Suns are betting their credibility on Miles Bridges. They better be right.Cardinals enter new season with major lack of elite talentDid World Cup’s stint in USA open eyes to world’s pastime?England should have no shame in losing to Lionel Messi, Argentina in World CupDiamondbacks must keep newfound attitude flowing post-All-Star breakCardinals reinforcing dangerous stereotypes against them in Jacoby Brissett contract saga