Jacoby Brissett’s absence from voluntary portions of the Arizona Cardinals’ offseason program has become the roster story of the spring and early summer. Brissett, who is entering the final season of a two-year, $12.5 million contract that he signed expecting to be Kyler Murray’s backup, has pressed the team for additional compensation now that the circumstances have changed. He started 12 games for Arizona last season after Murray’s injury, finishing those starts with career highs in passing yards and passing touchdowns but a 1-11 record as a starter. Those mixed results, together with standout seasons from receiver Michael Wilson and tight end Trey McBride, have not removed the central sticking point: Brissett contends that his role as the de facto starter should be reflected in his pay, while the club has not altered his contract.
Shows: Arizona Cardinals players at a voluntary practice session, including a player wearing No. 7 in a black hoodie, as the team navigates offseason quarterback contract uncertainty.
Brissett’s current contract situation is straightforward on paper: he will earn $4.9 million in salary in 2026, with $1.5 million of that guaranteed. He signed the two-year deal as a veteran backup, but Murray’s health issues elevated Brissett into a starting role last season. Murray was released in the offseason, and that roster move left Brissett atop the depth chart. At the same time, the market for starting quarterbacks not on rookie contracts sits far above Brissett’s existing salary level — a baseline figure for veteran starters in the NFL this year is well into the tens of millions — which is the numerical gap driving Brissett’s request for renegotiation and his decision to skip voluntary team activities while talks continue.
The timing of Arizona’s other quarterback signing added another layer to the dispute. The Cardinals brought in Gardner Minshew on a one-year deal reported to be worth roughly $5.7 million — a sum that, by itself, is higher than Brissett’s 2026 base pay. That comparison has factored into the contract negotiations and into Brissett’s public decision to stay away from voluntary offseason work. Media reports during the period after Minshew’s signing indicated that the club intended Minshew to back up Brissett, and there were accounts that Brissett was told at some point in the offseason he would be the team’s starter. Those communications, whether formal or informal, helped form the expectation that led Brissett to push for a reworked contract commensurate with starter compensation.
How the Cardinals handled the quarterback room this spring is the crux of the internal issue. With Kyler Murray no longer under contract and with a coaching staff led by a first-year head coach, the organization had a fresh quarterback picture to sort out. Rather than leaving the opening to a competition between Brissett and Minshew, team officials at one point communicated to Brissett that he would be the Week 1 starter. That course of action established a roster reality that Brissett says should be met with starter-level pay. It also created the flashpoint now playing out publicly as contract discussions and Brissett’s stance over voluntary participation continue.
On the field, Brissett put up the most productive passing numbers of his career while starting last season, but the team’s results in those games were poor: Arizona went 1-11 in his 12 starts and lost the final nine straight after he was designated the starter. Minshew, who has 47 career starts going into the season, represents a veteran presence behind Brissett on the depth chart and an alternative option should the Cardinals decide to move in another direction. The combination of Brissett’s individual statistical highs, the team’s losses while he was starting, and the relative dollar amounts of the players’ contracts has produced the current standoff.
That sequence of roster moves and communications has left the Cardinals organization balancing immediate quarterback depth with longer-term roster construction and payroll planning. Officials have a cleared depth chart at the position in the sense that Murray is no longer on the roster, but the presence of two veterans with different financial profiles — one under an existing two-year veteran deal and one signed to a higher one-year figure — has generated an unexpected contract negotiation. Brissett’s choice to sit out voluntary activities, intended to press for a revised deal, means the team will enter training preparations with a continuing question over the quarterback room and with the offseason storyline unresolved.
The outcome of the contract talks will determine whether Brissett returns to participate in voluntary work and whether the Cardinals finalize their quarterback pecking order before training camp. For now, the facts remain: Brissett is in the final year of a two-year contract he signed as a backup; he started 12 games last season after Murray’s injury and delivered career-high passing totals amid a 1-11 record as a starter; Murray’s release placed Brissett atop the depth chart; the club signed Gardner Minshew to a deal that pays more than Brissett’s upcoming base salary; and communications from the team that Brissett would be the starter created the expectation that has led Brissett to seek an adjustment to his compensation. The situation has left an open question about how Arizona will resolve its quarterback leadership and payroll before the regular season begins.