Jacoby Brissett says he won’t show up to offseason workouts without a new contract, and it’s hard to blame him. He dramatically outperformed his contract last season.
A year ago at this time, Brissett signed a two-year deal worth $12.5 million. He then played lights out for the Cardinals after replacing Kyler Murray. The offense got a lot better with Brissett at the controls. Trey McBride and especially Michael Wilson got a whole lot better with Brissett playing.
Remarkably, Brissett averaged 281 passing yards in his 12 starts – more yards than any other quarterback in the league. Murray averaged 88 fewer yards per start. Below see the per-game averages for all quarterbacks who started at least half the time (plus I’ve snuck Murray in there).
| PASSING YARDS PER GAME | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | St | Pass | TD | Int |
| Jacoby Brissett, Ari. | 12 | 280.5 | 1.92 | .67 |
| Matthew Stafford, LAR | 17 | 276.9 | 2.71 | .47 |
| Jared Goff, Det. | 17 | 268.5 | 2.00 | .47 |
| Dak Prescott, Dall. | 17 | 267.8 | 1.76 | .59 |
| Drake Maye, N.E. | 17 | 258.5 | 1.82 | .47 |
| Patrick Mahomes, K.C. | 14 | 256.2 | 1.57 | .79 |
| Tyler Shough, N.O. | 9 | 250.7 | 1.11 | .56 |
| Joe Flacco, Cle.-Cin. | 10 | 245.1 | 1.50 | 1.00 |
| Brock Purdy, S.F. | 9 | 240.8 | 2.22 | 1.11 |
| Daniel Jones, Ind. | 13 | 238.5 | 1.46 | .62 |
| Sam Darnold, Sea. | 17 | 238.1 | 1.47 | .82 |
| Trevor Lawrence, Jac. | 17 | 235.7 | 1.71 | .71 |
| Justin Herbert, LAC | 16 | 232.9 | 1.63 | .81 |
| Caleb Williams, Chi. | 17 | 231.9 | 1.59 | .41 |
| Bo Nix, Den. | 17 | 231.2 | 1.47 | .65 |
| Jordan Love, G.B. | 15 | 225.4 | 1.53 | .40 |
| Michael Penix, Atl. | 9 | 220.2 | 1.00 | .33 |
| Baker Mayfield, T.B. | 17 | 217.2 | 1.53 | .65 |
| C.J. Stroud, Hou. | 14 | 217.2 | 1.36 | .57 |
| Josh Allen, Buff. | 17 | 215.8 | 1.47 | .59 |
| Aaron Rodgers, Pitt. | 16 | 207.6 | 1.50 | .44 |
| Geno Smith, L.V. | 15 | 201.7 | 1.27 | 1.13 |
| Jalen Hurts, Phi. | 16 | 201.5 | 1.56 | .38 |
| Lamar Jackson, Balt. | 13 | 196.1 | 1.62 | .54 |
| • Kyler Murray, Ari. | 5 | 192.4 | 1.20 | .60 |
| Tua Tagovailoa, Mia. | 14 | 190.0 | 1.43 | 1.07 |
| Jaxson Dart, NYG | 12 | 189.3 | 1.25 | .42 |
| Bryce Young, Car. | 16 | 188.2 | 1.44 | .69 |
| Cam Ward, Ten. | 17 | 186.4 | .88 | .41 |
| J.J. McCarthy, Min. | 10 | 163.2 | 1.10 | 1.20 |
| Justin Fields, NYJ | 9 | 139.9 | .78 | .11 |
Note also that Brissett has long been good at taking care of the ball, with only 32 interceptions in 65 career starts. He doesn’t beat himself. Among all quarterbacks with at least 50 career starts, Brissett has the 2nd-lowest interception percentage, just behind Aaron Rodgers. (Though Brissett wasn’t as notable in this area last year, with 8 picks in his 12 starts.)
| AVOIDING INTERCEPTIONS (50 starts min) | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Att | G | Com | Att | Yds | TD | Int | Pct |
| Aaron Rodgers | 2005-25 | 257 | 5,696 | 8,743 | 66,274 | 527 | 123 | 1.41% |
| Jacoby Brissett | 2016-25 | 65 | 1,391 | 2,246 | 14,766 | 76 | 32 | 1.42% |
| Justin Herbert | 2020-25 | 95 | 2,285 | 3,438 | 24,820 | 163 | 58 | 1.69% |
| C.J. Stroud | 2023-25 | 46 | 928 | 1,454 | 10,876 | 62 | 25 | 1.72% |
| Tom Brady | 2000-22 | 333 | 7,753 | 12,050 | 89,214 | 649 | 212 | 1.76% |
| Colin Kaepernick | 2011-16 | 58 | 1,011 | 1,692 | 12,271 | 72 | 30 | 1.77% |
| Tyrod Taylor | 2011-25 | 62 | 1,165 | 1,886 | 13,033 | 73 | 34 | 1.80% |
| Joe Burrow | 2020-25 | 77 | 1,921 | 2,806 | 20,810 | 157 | 51 | 1.82% |
| Patrick Mahomes | 2017-25 | 126 | 3,093 | 4,673 | 35,939 | 267 | 85 | 1.82% |
| Russell Wilson | 2012-25 | 202 | 3,951 | 6,120 | 46,966 | 353 | 114 | 1.86% |
| Jalen Hurts | 2020-25 | 82 | 1,542 | 2,393 | 17,891 | 110 | 45 | 1.88% |
| Dak Prescott | 2016-25 | 139 | 3,184 | 4,759 | 35,989 | 243 | 92 | 1.93% |
| Derek Carr | 2014-24 | 169 | 3,765 | 5,785 | 41,245 | 257 | 112 | 1.94% |
| Lamar Jackson | 2018-25 | 107 | 1,870 | 2,888 | 22,608 | 187 | 56 | 1.94% |
| Jared Goff | 2016-25 | 151 | 3,440 | 5,224 | 39,622 | 256 | 102 | 1.95% |
| Gardner Minshew | 2019-25 | 47 | 1,100 | 1,742 | 11,987 | 68 | 35 | 2.01% |
| Jordan Love | 2021-25 | 48 | 981 | 1,526 | 11,535 | 83 | 31 | 2.03% |
| Kyler Murray | 2019-25 | 87 | 1,974 | 2,941 | 20,460 | 121 | 60 | 2.04% |
| Sam Bradford | 2010-18 | 83 | 1,855 | 2,967 | 19,449 | 103 | 61 | 2.06% |
| Carson Wentz | 2016-25 | 99 | 2,195 | 3,496 | 23,626 | 159 | 72 | 2.06% |
With these ingredients in place, I’m not surprised Brissett is poking at the club, seeing if he can pick up a few extra million. As things stand, his contract averages only slightly more than Gardner Minshew, who signed with them on a one-year deal worth $5.8 million.
But I don’t know that the Cardinals will be interested in doing much. They have a new coach and a new offense, so I don’t think there’s any chance of him putting up numbers anything like what he was doing last year.
The Cardinals may quietly be in the Tank Club, hoping to finish the season with an early pick in the more quarterback-rich 2027 draft.
In a typical 12-team draft, with each franchise carrying two quarterbacks, I would not today expect Brissett to be on an opening day roster. In a deep dynasty league, I would be willing to deal him for a sack of potato chips.
—Ian Allan
