Cardinals OTAs takeaways: Jacoby Brissett not only notable absence
Jacoby Brissett continues to stay away from voluntary team activities amid his request for a raise that pays him as the Cardinals starter.
Watch: Arizona Cardinals training camp check-in with Trey McBride and Will Johnson | 19 mins
TEMPE — Just before the Arizona Cardinals took the field for the first round of organized team activities on Monday, a report dropped that quarterback Jacoby Brissett would not be among those taking part in the voluntary work.
Shocked? You shouldn’t be.
Still waiting for the raise he asked for earlier in the offseason, Brissett continues to remain away from the franchise as first-year head coach Mike LaFleur installs his system.
No new deal, no Brissett. Simple as that.
“Same as where we were a few weeks ago,” LaFleur said Monday when asked where the two sides stand.
“It’s not mandatory, right? Like I’ve said with Jacoby and all the veterans I’ve ever been around, they’ve played football,” LaFleur added. “The hardest thing to do in this league is get used to the speed of the game. … He’s done probably everything that we’ve ever done schematically. It’s just a little bit different verbiage.”
As LaFleur mentioned, Arizona is still in the voluntary window. Would it be beneficial to have the team’s expected Week 1 starter in the mix early on? Absolutely. But until things become mandatory, the weight of his absence isn’t as heavy as some might think.
There’s also the fact that the Cardinals still have a veteran helping run the show in Gardner Minshew, who continues to build his rapport with Paris Johnson Jr. and Arizona’s primary playmakers while Brissett is away.
Cardinals WR Michael Wilson would love to have Jacoby Brissett on the grass for OTAs but also understands the business side of the NFL.
“I’d love to have Jacoby (here). Words can’t describe how I feel about playing with Jacoby. … I’m forever indebted to him.” pic.twitter.com/HW2yfKllDo
— Tyler Drake (@Tdrake4sports) May 18, 2026
“We’d love to have Jacoby (here),” wide receiver Michael Wilson said Monday. “Words can’t describe how I feel about playing with Jacoby. What he did for my career, I’m forever indebted to him. But with that being said, the organization is going to keep going, the train’s going to keep going.
“I’m not going to hold anything against Jacoby, because he’s trying to figure out his situation, which I think everyone in the building understands and can relate to that. Hopefully we can get Jacoby back whenever that situation figures itself out, but it’s just business as usual.”
Who else was missing from Cardinals OTAs?
Brissett made headlines (again) for his absence from team activities.
He wasn’t the only notable name missing from on-the-field work on Monday, however.
Pass rushers Josh Sweat and Baron Browning were notably absent. Again, it’s voluntary, but Sweat will be another player to watch as the offseason progresses being Arizona’s No. 1 pass-rushing option on the roster by a mile.
Running backs James Conner and Trey Benson were working off to the side coming off their respective season-ending injuries in 2025. Rookie linebacker Karson Sharar and cornerback Starling Thomas V were doing the same.
Tight end Tip Reiman and defensive lineman Walter Nolen III, meanwhile, took in the sights from the side.
“Not going to dive too far into that, but I do expect (Reiman) to be healthy and ready to roll when we get going in training camp,” LaFleur said. “He’s another guy that I had a lot of respect for coming out of Illinois. … Tip is all of the right stuff in terms of how he approaches it and stuff like that.”
LaFleur added that Benson was “on the same type of thing” as Reiman when asked about the running back’s timeline.
Other players missing from the fray included cornerback Garrett Williams, who is working his way back from a torn Achilles, as well as offensive lineman Christian Jones and defensive lineman L.J. Collier.
Some movement in the secondary
With Williams still on the road to recovery, Arizona has pivoted to other options at nickel.
One of them includes veteran Sean Murphy-Bunting.
After missing the entirety of the season last year, the cornerback was back running around on the practice fields, albeit with a different position group than in previous seasons.
Arizona has plenty of options on the outside, highlighted by second-year pro Will Johnson. Denzel Burke past the team in interceptions as a rookie, while Thomas was in the running to start until a torn ACL in training camp dashed those hopes. Max Melton took a backseat defensively late in the year but is another candidate for outside looks.
For Murphy-Bunting, moving over to the slot — a spot he played plenty with Tampa Bay — likely gives him the clearest path to playing time. That is until Williams is back fully healthy.
Who started out with the rock?
Rookie running back Jeremiyah Love is going to be a main piece of the Cardinals offense this year and beyond.
But for now, it’s about getting a foundation set and nailing down the ins and outs of the playbook.
The running back worked with projected starters, but it was Tyler Allgeier getting the very first looks.
Love also got some work in as a return man during special teams work. That’s going to be something to keep an eye on moving forward, because having your first-round running back on special teams just doesn’t compute.
Along with Allgeier, other notable players that got run with the projected first team during the open portion included tight end Teagan Quitoriano, right tackle Elijah Wilkinson, right guard Isaiah Adams and Minshew.
It will be interesting to see how much this group changes in the coming weeks.
As for rookie quarterback Carson Beck, he and Kedon Slovis spent Monday filling in behind Minshew during drills.
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“I was impressed with (Beck) today in terms of just hearing the play calls. He’s heard me speak, we’ve talked, he knows what the reads are and all that, but it’s the first time he’s ever heard the mic going into his helmet,” LaFleur said.
“You never know how that’s going to be. … I thought he did a really good job of hearing me communicating that kind of stuff.”
Cardinals rookie QB Carson Beck gets after it during OTAs. pic.twitter.com/Fu7TF2Mgqu
— Tyler Drake (@Tdrake4sports) May 18, 2026
First looks in new (and old) numbers
Of the new numbers out on the fields Monday, Nos. 1 and 2 stood out above the rest.
Long belonging to quarterback Kyler Murray, quarterback of the defense Mack Wilson Sr. dons the single digit now.
As for his former number, it now resides in the secondary after Johnson made the switch back to his college roots.
Cardinals CB Will Johnson back to rocking No. 2. pic.twitter.com/PijEWvBam0
— Tyler Drake (@Tdrake4sports) May 18, 2026
“It means a lot. It just feels right. I feel real comfortable in it, so I’m glad I was able to get that back,” Johnson said Monday.
“Once Kyler left, Mack had No. 1 on his mind, and I had the No. 2 on my mind,” the cornerback added.
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Comments
19 Comments
I am still trying to figure out why we are all talking like Jacoby is better than Gardner? He has more playing time, but other than that, Gardner is probably better. In seasons where they each started 10+ games, Gardner is 1 game over .500 and Jacoby is 21 GAMES UNDER .500 !!! Gardner has 1 pro bowl, Jacoby ZERO. Gardner has a slight higher career QB rating.
Ditch Jacoby, let Gardner get the first few starts before moving to Beck to see what he has before the 2027 draft.
Or is the fact that Jacoby can't win games why we want him to start???
Just not sure what Jacoby is thinking, as his body of work thus far doesn't look like anything close to NFL Starter money ($40M+), and there are QB's making less that are better (Daniels and others arguably).
If he wants his current salary fully guaranteed at $4.88M from $1.55M, maybe there's a conversation, but beyond that his stat-line doesn't support it.
Just cut Brissett