The Cardinals took a while and a lot of thinking to hand Jacoby Brissett that $10 million raise right as the training camp was about to start.
With just 10 days to go for their season-opener against the Chargers, the Arizona front office is already hearing updates about Brissett that remove whatever doubts they had back then.
Tight end Trey McBride dropped an honest take on Brissett ahead of Week 1, according to ESPN’s Josh Weinfuss.
Trey McBride Drops Honest Assessment on Jacoby Brissett
Learning Mike LaFleur’s offense was a task for everyone in the locker room when the offseason training started earlier this year. McBride explained how Brissett made it easy for everyone to understand the new offense, and even guided them on which play they were going to run based on his experience as the Cardinals‘ signal caller last season.
“This is what we did last [year],” Brissett would say, according to tight end Trey McBride. “This is what we called it last year.”
That smoothed out the process for everyone. And of course, his understanding of the offense has only grown by then. At one point during camp, McBride described his progress as “leaps and bounds” beyond what his understanding of the scheme was when he first returned from his holdout.
“I feel like it’s significantly better than when he first started,” McBride said of Brissett.
“Obviously he’s played a lot of football in his career, and you can only make so many football plays up. We’re running the same stuff. Maybe it’s called a little bit different.”
Brissett didn’t let his disconnect with the Cardinals front office affect the 12 starts he made for them, even recording a career-high 3,366 yards and 23 touchdowns.
All that when his base salary was just $4.88 million (with less than $2 million guaranteed), well below what a proven bridge or starting-caliber veteran commands. That’s when he decided to be his own agent and play hardball.
He completely bypassed the team’s voluntary offseason program and sat out live 11-on-11 team drills during mandatory minicamp and the opening days of training camp.
Rookie Carson Beck was highly trending as the next starting quarterback in LaFleur’s offense.
However, the front office wanted a veteran while Beck was still unproven. That’s when they caved and handed Brissett a reworked, one-year deal, pushing his guaranteed compensation to $15.5 million with incentives climbing to $21 million.
Brissett is Handing the Cardinals All the Right Reasons for Another Extension
Now, the veteran is giving them all the reasons they need to hand him another extension.
“He’s kind of getting into the new terminology, and he’s a fast learner. He’s a smart guy. He spends a lot of time learning the game. So, it’s been no issue for him. And I feel like right now he’s very comfortable. He knows exactly what to do. And we’re running and operating as a very good offense,” McBride added.
Even quarterbacks coach Matt Schaub didn’t start from scratch with Brissett.
“We really didn’t hold back with slowing things down or trying to go back to the beginning of camp or even OTAs with everything,” Schaub said.
“It’s just like, we’re just going to keep going, and he’s done a great job of extra meetings, extra time in the room, talking through things, extra walk-throughs to be able to just catch up, if you will.”
Cardinals Get Promising Take on Jacoby Brissett Ahead of Week 1