If you drew up the perfect backup quarterback, Jacoby Brissett might just be it.
"From a team-first mentality standpoint, Jacoby fits that," Cardinals coach Jonathan Gannon said at the recent NFL owners meetings about his new QB. "He's very smart and to compete for that role it's kind of the perfect thing. And he can play winning football. He can win you some games."
That could be important. Colt McCoy filled in for Kyler Murray in 2021 -- the year the Cardinals had their fantastic 10-2 start -- and won two of three starts. Of course, that also assumes Murray misses starts, which is actually far from certain.
The false narrative around Murray is that he has been injury-prone. He has not. Yes, he suffered one catastrophic ACL injury, which cost him 15 missed games. Otherwise, Murray has missed only three games in his career, and played the full schedule in three of the four non-ACL-impacted seasons.
Clayton Tune remains in the battle for Murray's backup, although Brissett carries experience Tune doesn't have. At some point, it wouldn't be a surprise to add a fourth offseason arm, although given how much work Tune could get in the offseason, perhaps carrying only three QBs makes sense.
"You can never have enough," GM Monti Ossenfort said at the owners meetings. "It's the most important position in the game. Whether it is depth or high-level people in the room … we feel like we have insurance, people that can play if need be. I think that's going to be good competition.
"We are happy with what Clayton has done. We are excited to work with all three of them."
