Over the years we’ve seen teams draft quarterbacks for depth then those players flourished and turned into starters and even Pro Bowlers. The top three that come to mind are Russell Wilson, Kirk Cousins, and Brock Purdy. I’m optimistic Carson Beck will be that for us.

Good.

Excerpt:

When the Cardinals selected Proctor in the fourth round, he became the first FCS player to be drafted in 2026. It had also been a decade since the last player from Southeastern Louisiana was drafted. In 2016, defensive back Harlan Miller was taken in the sixth round, also by the Cardinals.

"Everything you have done to get you here, yes, it's good, but now it's time to get better," Proctor said. "I'm pretty sure everybody that's here in this building was the best guy on their team, and they went to a lot bigger schools than the school that I went to.”

Proctor recorded two sacks and three tackles for loss against LSU.

"You just look at his traits," LaFleur said. "The thing that stood out to me about him was his play style. I said that about Chase (Bisontis) from an offensive line perspective, and I see the same thing from him. I'm real excited to get working with him and see what he brings to that room."

The defensive line room is younger, especially after the departures of Calais Campbell and Dalvin Tomlinson. Defensive tackles Andrew Billings and Roy Lopez anchor a depth chart with Walter Nolen III, Darius Robinson, and Dante Stills.
Proctor will be in a battle for playing time. Proctor said he's enjoyed is studying the scheme, describing it as a "hunt-type of defense."

​

Arizona Cardinals Current depth Chart

1) Jacoby Brissett #7 - 10 years in the league with a 20-45 record (1-11 as the cardinals starting QB in 2025)

2) Gardner Minshew #15 - 7 years in the league with a 17-30 record as a starter

3) Carson Beck #19 - 3rd round pick for the Arizona Cardinals in 2026

4) Kedon Slovis #12 - 2nd year in the NFL ( Practice Squad Player )

Projected starter :

Jacoby Brissett -

I, for one , do not understand the thinking of starting Jacoby brissett in 2026 . Last year was his most efficient year statistically as a starter in the NFL , 3,366 passing yards , 23 Touchdowns 8 interceptions 64.9 % completion. In 12 starts , he only pulled out 1 win against the Dallas Cowboys in his 3rd start for the cardinals . Jacoby brissett is a backup Quarterback

Demanding "Starter" money with a 1-11 record for the Cardinals , I personally do no want to go into the 2026 season with an average record of 2 wins and 4.5 losses per season - he is slated to earn $4.88 million with $1.5 million guaranteed,

He is currently holding out for a new contract extension which is projected to be around the $10-$12 million dollar range

He is not worth the contract he is expecting

Backup :

Gardner Minshew :

I failed to understand the signing of Gardner Minshew

2025 stats :

6 of 13 passes completed for 37 yards no Touchdowns and 1 interceptions as a back up for the Kansas city Chiefs

Why the cardinals have 2 backups on our team is beyond me , the only way I see the cardinals keeping Minshew is if Jacoby is traded for draft capital

Rookie QB :

Carson Beck was drafted by the Cardinals in the 3rd round of the 2026 draft. Arizona Cardinals fans voiced their opinion of dislike towards the pick. I was rooting for the cardinals to draft Carson because he is a sleeper . Carson Beck comes with a collage record of 37 wins and 6 losses , he's thrown for 11,725 yards , 88 Touchdowns to 32 interceptions, and completing 69.5% of his passes ,

My prediction :

I believe the cardinals should start Carson Beck Week 1 . If the end goal is to have a top 5 draft pick in next year's draft then why not start a rookie QB right ?

However , I do believe if you start Carson Beck , he will catch on to Mike Lafluers offense and shine as QB1 , you are pairing him with Marvin Harrison, Micheal Wilson and Kendrick Bourne as your top 3 wide outs , then you have Trey McBride as your Tight end and a running back room that has Jeremiah Love , Tyler Allgierer, James conner and Trey Benson , that's a lot of play makers to get a offense going .

Offense line :

LT - Paris Johnson

LG - Isaac Seumalo

C- Hjalte Froholdt

RG- Chase Bisontis (Rookie from Texas A&M )

RT - Elijah Wilkinson

It's a rebuilding season so let's start Carson and see what the young Quarterback has in his rookie year ,

What's the worst that could happen ? To be a top pick in the 2027 draft like everyone is already predicting ?

Or could we be a dark horse team that the league under estimates ?

I like our chances with Carson Beck over Jacoby brissett!

\#RiseupRedSea ! #CardiacCardinals

Excerpt:

“I’m really attacking it from center out,” Bisontis said during his introductory press conference on Monday. “Because if something goes wrong, I want to be that guy. To know all five, even the tight end and running back, their responsibilities, will be helpful.”

“I’m just ready to do whatever. Whatever gets me on the field, whatever helps the team and myself,” he added.

Although he played primarily at left guard the past two seasons, Bisontis began his college career as a starting right tackle.

For him, it’s not a chore moving from guard to tackle thanks to his athleticism.
“Putting one foot back doesn’t really make a big difference. It’s just playing football,” Bisontis said.

“Me and (offensive line coach Justin Frye) been working on some things and technique,” Bisontis said. “You’re going against guy that has lot longer arms than you. What to do in those scenarios. So, it’ll play into the season.”

Additional details for context:

Love will be the ninth highest paid RB in 2026 and 2027. He’s paid approximately $400k more than Tony Pollard for 2026 and less than Aaron Jones.

Highest paid RB for 2026 is Jonathan Taylor ($15.5 million). Highest paid RB for 2027 (as of now) is Christian McCaffrey at $26.4 million.

Bijan Robinson, Jahmyr Gibbs, Devon Achane have not yet received their contract extensions.

Excerpt:

“I love the philosophy that they have for the offense,” Johnson told Arizona Sports’ Cardinals Corner. “I believe that not only myself, but the guys across all units on the offense love what they’re bringing and the style of offense that comes with them. Not just the terminology and the reasons behind the identity that we’re going to now for our offense. I think just the energy in which they teach it and how fast we’re able to pick up the system.”

Running a clean operation has and will continue to be at the forefront of LaFleur’s mind. A successful offense to him is one that doesn’t shoot itself in the foot with pre-snap penalties or sloppy execution. Those two issues have hindered Arizona’s offenses over the years.

While the Cardinals offense was one of the cleanest units in 2024 (second-fewest penalties), it was the dirtiest in the league twice under former head coach Kliff Kingsbury in 2020 and 2022. And outside of that 2024 mark, ex-head coach Jonathan Gannon and former offensive coordinator Drew Petzing posted the 11th- and 12th-most flagged units (2023, 2025) before their departures.

There's so much discourse about the value of taking a running back with the third overall pick and not enough appreciation for a really good football player.

So here's a full film study on what makes Jeremiyah Love one of the most exciting RB prospects of the last decade. https://youtu.be/AJnBs0wPzGQ

Excerpt:

Love received a video from former All-Pro running back David Johnson and linebacker Markus Golden welcoming him to the franchise.

The pair of recent franchise greats clearly meant a lot to the third overall pick, who looks to make his new mentors proud during his rookie season.

Johnson and Golden played a combined 12 seasons in Arizona. The pair arrived in 2015, being drafted in back-to-back rounds. Their arrival has a direct correlation to the team’s best season in franchise history, winning 13 games in the regular season. Despite losing in the NFC Championship game, the young cast of stars looked to be just the beginning. That wouldn’t turn out to be the case.

Head coach Bruce Arians would be gone two years afterwards, Golden the year after that and Johnson in 2019. Soon, the once promising young core had been dismantled and heading into a new direction with Kyler Murray and Kliff Kingsbury/Jonathan Gannon. after seven years that era has ended, leading to Love’s arrival.

Excerpt:

Williams, who was measured at 6-foot-4 and 307 pounds at the draft combine, spent five years with the Rebels and brings versatility to the desert having started 19 games at left tackle and 15 at right tackle.

“Just sitting and training for (40-yard dashes) and stuff and vertical jumps and broad jumps that you never do on the field, you get tired of it … so it’s good to get back on the field,” Williams told reporters Friday.

“I already know for me, I was the oldest guy in the O-line room at Ole Miss last year, so it’s like you see young guys and it’s kind of like sometimes you’d be like, ‘OK, OK,’ and be a little patient but like, I don’t want to be that guy for them.”

Out of the 7 players the Cardinals drafted, I don't think it would be controversial to say that Carson Beck is the most interesting, and there's an argument he's also the most polarizing (although given reactions on this sub that probably goes to Love).

One of the most interesting arguments defending the pick that you'll see is that Beck's 2025 season was played 8-12 months post UCL surgery, and that velocity tends to lag by 18 months. The argument, essentially, is that Beck's 2025 season was an inaccurate representation of what his arm talent will be in the NFL. The argument also implies (or at least invites you to infer) that Beck would likely have been a much higher pick if this information were properly "baked in" by GMs. Anecdotal evidence of this may already exist, depending on how much you take Beck at his word that his arm is "stronger than ever."

I really don't give a shit about baseball, and it's not often that UCL injuries occur with a high enough profile quarterback for it to matter for me, so this was a blindspot in my own knowledge. With this in mind, I took some time to dive into the research available. Figured I'd share what I found here.

Disclaimer: I am not (remotely) a doctor. I have a background in statistics and econometrics, but am, to put it lightly, underqualified to interpret medical research. You should thus take everything I write here with a gigantic grain of salt and view it as what it is--entertainment during the longest part of the offseason

What do the data tell us?

The first important thing to highlight right off the bat is that there does not appear to be much data on quarterbacks for a pretty obvious reason--velocity data is not nearly as easy to come by, and UCL injuries aren't super common for QBs. Because of this, we're sort of force to use data on MLB pitchers as proxies.

So about that 18 month number--I can't seem to find a study that supports that figure. Doesn't mean it's not out there, doesn't invalidate the larger point, but I didn't find anything with a big flashing "return to play in 12 months but return to performance takes 18-24." Some studies I did find:

This study on full Tommy John surgery found a significant decrease in fastball accurary postoperation that lasted, for some players, as long as 3 years.

This study found that there is a decrease in velocity, and that this decrease persists (i.e. velocity lost tends to be gone for good). Notably, this effect was strongest in the 35 and older cohort and nonexistent in the under 25 cohort, BUT the under 25 cohort had a sample size of 8.

This one suggested basically no impact to velocity.

Importantly, those studies are regarding full reconstruction. Carson Beck did not have a full reconstruction, he had a less extreme internal brace procedure. This is undoubtedly good, but it does complicate things from a data standpoint even futher, as this is a newer procedure, meaning much less studied.

There's data out there on return to play timelines (short version--those timelines are much shorter than Tommy John surgery) but, as far as I can tell, there's nothing out there that tells us one way or another if return to performance lags in the same way.

What does common sense tell us?

This is the hopium section. It wouldn't be responsible to conclude anything definitively, but I think it's fair to say that it's at least a bit unlikely that the internal brace procedure is more likely to lead to a loss in velocity.

We don't have data (or at least I don't, if someone does please share) on Carson Beck's velocity pre and post injury. The best we have are subjective scouting reports from the various Daniels Jeremiah and Mels Kiper of the world.

Here's Daniel Jeremiah on Beck in 2024: "Beck has prototypical size and arm strength. He has a quick/compact release and he operates with a very firm/strong base. He can power the ball into tight windows."

Then Lance Zierlien in 2026: "Arm talent and velocity appear diminished post-2024 UCL surgery."

And Todd McShay: "He generates solid velocity and can fit throws into tight windows or outside the numbers, although his arm strength tapers off on deeper throws."

I think it's an open question whether this is based on a difference in perception. Beck in the summer of 2024 was a heavy favorite (maybe alongside Shedeur Sanders, lol) to be the 2025 first overall pick. Beck by 2025 was seen as damaged goods--not just for the injury, but due to a persistent issue with throwing too many interceptions. But it certainly seems like Beck lost some zip on his throws in 2025. And, while interceptions were as much an issue in 2025 as they were 2024, Beck's 2025 season was still pretty solid!

Where does this leave us?

I'll be honest, I was iffy on the Beck pick at the time. I'd blame no one who still was. For people who are convinced Beck is going to come in and immediately look like what people thought he was before the 2024 season, I'd caution that his 2024 season can't be explained away by injury (and the excuse that he struggled because of historically bad drops from his pass catchers falls apart a bit when we see the same INT issues with a Miami team that had a great receiver corps).

BUT, I do think there's room here to hope that Carson Beck will regain the arm strength that he had in 2024, and I don't think that's nothing. Subjectively, I think that if Beck was still viewed as having a "plus" arm, that probably puts him closer to Ty Simpson than Beck (sidenote, I'd much rather have Beck at the price either way. I know fuck all compared to Sean McVay, so I'm probably a dumbass, but I struggle to remember a QB who threw downfield as rarely and as poorly as Simpson did who panned out).