The statistics make a hard case for the Arizona Cardinals to ride with Jacoby Brissett over Kyler Murray as their starting quarterback.
The financials make it exponentially more complicated.
Murray has gone 2-3, and with a healthier roster, Arizona scored 20.6 points per game. Murray’s passer rating sits 22nd in the NFL.
With a 1-2 record, Brissett has the Cardinals’ offense humming at 25.7 points per game despite little supplementary run game without the team’s top two running backs. He is 10th in passer rating.
The eye test backs the production.
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How much that matters with Murray under contract for two more years before a 2028 club option will be tested.
Murray is owed a base salary of $22.8 million next season with a $17 million roster bonus and a $53.3 million cap hit. The guaranteed money on his contract continues into the 2026 season ($36.8 million, per OverTheCap) before the deal lightens up.
Point being, Murray is owed a bit of money through next year, making him a tough trade candidate. And that bit of money is why the decision to bench him in favor of Brissett might be unlikely — it will either sour his trade value for this offseason — assuming Murray is not dealt Tuesday at the deadline — or force the Cardinals to pay him out with a cut.
Talking heads since Arizona’s Brissett-led win over the Dallas Cowboys on Monday are split on what matters more: performance or money.
What they said about the Cardinals’ Jacoby Brissett vs. Kyler Murray quarterback controversy
Former Cardinals head coach Bruce Arians on The Pat McAfee Show: “Too many dollars involved in this one. The ownership, they’ve had Kyler for seven years. They gave him a big amount of money. He’s coming back. As soon as he’s healthy, he’s going to be back in there. There’s no doubt Jacoby is carrying them, they’re playing better with him, but they will not make that move.
“This is going to be a top(-level) decision. Now, if he fails — put him back in (as starter) and he fails — maybe we’ll go back to Jacoby. But Kyler is starting when he’s healthy, I promise you.”
Troy Aikman, former NFL quarterback and Monday Night Football analyst: “I don’t know how you send Jacoby Brissett to the bench … I think you’ve got to put aside salaries and what someone’s being paid and look at performance and how the team has played up until this point.
“They look better the last two games coming into tonight. Obviously, those were losses … My guess is they’re going to stick with Jacoby Brissett. He’s been good and tonight, he was phenomenal. I thought at times when he had pressure on him, he was still delivering the ball accurately.”
Former QB Drew Brees on First Take: “Is Kyler Murray your franchise quarterback? Has he ever been your franchise quarterback? … I know that you paid him. I know that you basically put him in that position and tried to set him up for success. At the end of the day, that’s never been solidified there. That’s always been an up-in-the-air (situation). It’s really, you’ve never had a moment where somebody stepped in and actually gave the team hope. And now you have that with Jacoby Brissett. You see the way the players respond to him. You can feel it last night as you’re watching the game.
“It’s hard to put numbers or metrics to that other than you know what you’re watching. I don’t think you can take Jacoby Brissett off the field right now. At the end of the day, if I’m the head coach, I’m going around to the leaders on the team … and I’m going to get their perspective, I’m going to get their feeling on it. I think you have to roll with Jacoby Brissett at this point.”
Former NFL head coach and offensive lineman Jeff Saturday on First Take: “There’s the game of football and the business of football. I think the business of football is going to put Kyler back in that starting role. You go get guys like Jacoby Brissett to come in and give you three or four games where you stay competitive, right? So he’s 1-2. … They are definitely better, like, offensively number-wise, statistics, with him being at that position.
“But when you made the investment that the Cardinals have made into Kyler Murray, it would be a massive — this is a massive move. Because if you bench him or you stay with Jacoby Brissett when (Murray) is 100%, you’re going to have to cut him. This is not going to be a guy you’re going to make your backup. You can’t trade him because of his contract. Otherwise, you’re going to have all kinds of issues. So the business of football tells me Kyler is going to be a starter, whether we like it or not.”
Former DB and current ESPN NFL analyst Ryan Clark: “Moving forward, you have to make a tough decision if you’re Jonathan Gannon. … Everybody knows Kyler Murray was drafted to be the franchise quarterback. He has been the franchise quarterback and he was paid that way. But it’s (about) how do you win games right now, and who has this team in a better position each and every game day? And right now, that is Jacoby Brissett. You can tell that the players believe in him, and something Trey McBride told (Scott Van Pelt on SportsCenter) really stuck out to me. He said, (Brissett) tells everybody where he is and where he wants them to be. And that’s a big thing for a leader at the quarterback position.”
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