The Arizona Cardinals started OTAs (organized team activities) on Monday and had a notable absentee.
Starting quarterback Jacoby Brissett didn’t attend Cardinals OTAs. Even though he’s in line to be the team’s starting quarterback with first year head coach Mike LaFleur, Brissett wants to be compensated as a starting quarterback.
Before the overreactions get started, it’s worth noting that these OTAs are voluntary. Players have held out of them before and returned for mandatory minicamp and training camps without any issue. It’s also understandable that Brissett wants to be paid. For years, he’s been viewed as one of the elite backup quarterbacks in the NFL. He finally gets an opportunity to start a season, and wants to be paid as such.
Totally normal.
However, a contract dispute with the team’s starting quarterback to begin the LaFleur era in Arizona might foreshadow how this season will go for the Cardinals – not very well.
Behind Brissett resides Gardner Minshew and Carson Beck, who was Arizona’s third-round draft pick last month. It’s a roster that doesn’t have much talent, despite selecting Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love in the top five selections. They only won three games last season, gave up on Kyler Murray and decided to draft a running back behind one of the worst offensive lines in football.
LaFleur worked magic with Matthew Stafford during his time as the offensive coordinator of the Los Angeles Rams. But let’s be clear about a few things. Sean McVay runs the offense in Los Angeles.
And Brissett isn’t Stafford.
With that in mind, Brissett’s absence will sting the Cardinals even more so. Around the NFL, teams with new head coaches utilize OTAs to apply the classroom install work onto the practice field. Without the starting quarterback present for this voluntary portion of the offseason, the Cardinals are going to be playing catch up once the calendar flips to June – or whenever Brissett decides to arrive.
Brissett is in the second season of a two-year deal that he signed with the Cardinals. He’s set to earn $9 million, but only $1.5 million of that is guaranteed. As a starting quarterback, Brissett is well within his rights to search for a little pay increase to serve as additional security for risking his body for 17 regular season games in a Cardinals jersey.
But that doesn’t change the fact that the longer this bleeds on, the more of a distraction that it will become, and the less likely it will be for Brissett to flourish with LaFleur in their first season together.
