Coming off the board in the third round of the NFL Draft, rookie quarterback Carson Beck will now have an opportunity to compete for playing time with the Arizona Cardinals. There, he finds himself in an incredibly crowded quarterback room.
Beck is entering a room with a pair of veterans, Jacoby Brissett and Gardner Minshew. So, playing time might be hard to come by right away. However, it is also an opportunity to learn and grow while he competes.
“Even if I were to be the guy at some point, you are constantly learning, through game experience, through past experience, meetings, just talking to guys around the facility, you’re trying to get breadcrumbs from each and every person,” Beck said.
“There’s only one guy out there (at quarterback). … Obviously, I would love to play and perform but again, we’ll see where it takes me.”
Beck is used to being in a position where he’s asked to develop. That’s what happened at Georgia when he was a backup for two national championships. At the same time, Cardinals GM Monti Ossenfort recently emphasized that it’s the quarterback who gives Arizona the best chance to win that’ll play. That could end up being Beck.
“We have two guys who have played and started a lot of games in the NFL in Jacoby and Gardner and that’s going to be a great competition,” Ossenfort recently said on SiriusXM NFL radio. “We’ll bring (Carson) in and see how much he can handle and we’ll see how that competition plays out in the room. In the end the guy who is going to give us the best chance to win, that’s who is going to be out there on Sundays.”
The Arizona Cardinals Have Jacoby Brissett at Starting Quarterback for Now
GettyArizona Cardinals quarterback Jacoby Brissett
For the time being, the Arizona Cardinals know their starting quarterback. That’s Jacoby Brissett, who started 12 games a season ago for the Cardinals, going 1-11 in that time.
ESPN’s Josh Weinfuss broke down the thought process during a recent appearance on NFL Live. That’s despite Brissett’s current holdout.
“I’ve been told that, as of now, Jacoby Brissett is QB1, despite him holding out for a new contract,” Weinfuss said. “A source told me that he has been made aware of that, and that discussions between the team and Brissett are ongoing, just like Brissett’s holdout.”
Brissett has not been with the team during the offseason. Instead, he’s looking for a new contract with more security involved. That’s with 2026 being the final season of his contract, where he’s due to make $9.06 million, but only $1.5 million of that is guaranteed.
Of course, the starting quarterback situation is fluid for the Cardinals. It’s Brissett for now, but there is an opportunity for both Minshew and Beck to win the job.
Carson Beck on His Army Injury
GettyCarson Beck playing with Georgia in 2024
In his final game at Georgia, Carson Beck suffered a major UCL injury in his throwing arm. That cost him his job there, and he would transfer to Miami for his final college season. However, he was still recovering and rebuilding strength for most of the year, even going into the College Football Playoff.
“I would say toward the end of the season and the playoffs, my arm felt great,” Beck said. “But it only continues to get stronger. And now that I’m—what, a year and a half out of surgery—my arm is the strongest it’s ever been. I mean, I feel like I’ve been throwing the ball really well recently.”
Now, with more time to recover and train, Beck is feeling much better. Certainly, the Cardinals did their due diligence on the injury before selecting him as well.
“Obviously finally having an offseason to train and work and lock in on mechanics and just the fluidity of your motion and pairing everything together and making sure the mechanics one hundred percent and exactly where I want them to be,” Beck concluded.
Cardinals Rookie QB Carson Beck is Excited for his Opportunity in the NFL