Former two-time New England Patriots quarterback Jacoby Brissett will start for the Arizona Cardinals on Thursday night, taking the field in the team’s preseason opener against the Las Vegas Raiders. At the same time, the quarterback who replaced Brissett in 2024 as the Patriots’ starter, Drake Maye, is expected to remain on the sidelines when New England opens its preseason on the same night against the Indianapolis Colts.
Cardinals head coach Mike LaFleur confirmed the move Tuesday, keeping Brissett’s workload light while leaving the door cracked for rookie Carson Beck to continue his impressive audition.
Arizona’s starters will see the field Thursday, according to a report by NBC Sports’ Myles Simmons.
“It could be one drive, max of two for those main guys,” LaFleur said, as quoted by NBC Sports. He added that his regulars understand their workload will be limited.
Kickoff between the Cardinals and Raiders is set for 8 p.m. ET. The game also marks the first preseason snaps for running back Jeremiyah Love, the third overall pick in this year’s draft.
Brissett sat out last week’s Hall of Fame Game against the Carolina Panthers, ceding the stage to Beck, who completed 15 of 19 passes for 188 yards in his pro debut.
Jacoby Brissett’s New England Patriots History
The Patriots drafted Brissett in the third round out of NC State in 2016, and he negotiated his own rookie contract without an agent, the lone player from that class to do so, according to a Sporting News’ career retrospective.
He debuted that September after Tom Brady’s four-game suspension and an injury to Jimmy Garoppolo, throwing for 92 yards in a win over the Miami Dolphins. Brissett became the first Black quarterback to start for the Patriots. A thumb injury and Brady’s return sent him to Indianapolis in a 2017 trade for receiver Phillip Dorsett. He also spent time with the Dolphins, Browns and Commanders before circling back to Foxborough.
Brissett returned to New England in 2024, beating out rookie Drake Maye for the starting job under then-coach Jerod Mayo. He started the first five games before a benching, finishing the year 1-4 as a starter as Maye took over the offense. Across his career, Brissett carries a 20-45 record in 65 starts, a résumé built almost entirely on bridging jobs and injury relief.
Carson Beck Pushes Arizona Cardinals Competition
Brissett signed with Arizona as a free agent last year and took over after an injury to Kyler Murray, posting career-best numbers across 12 starts even as the Cardinals stumbled to a 3-14 finish. He held out of voluntary offseason work this spring while seeking a raise before agreeing to a reworked one-year deal worth $15.5 million guaranteed, according to CBS Sports’ reporting.
That deal restored Brissett atop Arizona’s depth chart, but Beck’s training camp performance has triggered intrigue inside the building. The third-round pick out of Miami, who threw for 3,813 yards and 30 touchdowns in his lone season with the Hurricanes, has drawn praise for his pre-snap recognition and pocket presence, with one source telling CBS Sports’ Matt Zenitz that Beck “has a shot to be a good quarterback in this league.” Veteran Gardner Minshew remains in the mix, too, giving Arizona three arms with preseason snaps to divide.
Barring a setback, Brissett remains the presumptive Week 1 starter when Arizona opens its season against the Los Angeles Chargers on Sept. 13. Thursday’s game against the Raiders is the next phase of a competition nobody in the desert is ready to call finished.
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