The Arizona Cardinals handed Jacoby Brissett their starting job and a raise this offseason, and the rest of the league still sees him as one of the lowest-ranked starters in football. Brissett landed at No. 33 in The Athletic’s annual Quarterback Tiers, sitting in Tier 4 and near the very bottom of the projected Week 1 starters.
Brissett’s ranking actually slipped three spots from No. 30 a year ago, even though his average vote nudged up slightly to 3.92. Six panelists put him in Tier 3, 42 dropped him into Tier 4 and two went all the way to Tier 5.
Jacoby Brissett Lands in Tier 4 of Athletic’s 2026 QB Tiers
The tiers come from Mike Sando of The Athletic, who polled roughly 50 NFL coaches and executives and averaged their votes. Sando defined a Tier 4 quarterback as an unproven player without enough film to classify, or a veteran who ideally would not start all 17 games.
Brissett, at 33 and on his seventh stop with six teams, is the latter.
Brissett owns a 2-15 mark as a starter over the past two seasons with the New England Patriots and Cardinals, though he can’t shoulder all the blame. Of the 28 quarterbacks with at least 17 starts over that span, none got worse defense and special-teams support than Brissett, according to Sando.
One defensive coordinator who faced him last season came away impressed with his performances.
“He can read defenses and put the ball where it’s supposed to go,” the coordinator said. “Gets it out of his hands quick, can take shots, can challenge you down the field. I’m not saying this from a talent standpoint, but he operated as a quarterback as well as anyone we saw.”
Another coach was much more critical.
“He could help you win in a quick-dropback, rhythm passing game and make the short throws and take the occasional 7-cut shot or the occasional go-ball fade,” the coach said. “But he is not going to scramble for you, not going to create. I do think he is smart.”
Cardinals’ Jacoby Brissett Contract and Arizona QB Situation
The Cardinals released Kyler Murray in the offseason, and in the process ate $36.8 million in dead cap money to watch him sign with the Minnesota Vikings, then declined to add a clear starter in free agency or the draft. That left Brissett atop the depth chart, and he thus used it as leverage.
After sitting out OTAs and minicamp, Brissett negotiated a reworked one-year deal himself, jumping his 2026 base salary from roughly $4.9 million to $15.5 million, with incentives that can push it to $21 million, per NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport. Head coach Mike LaFleur confirmed Brissett as the Week 1 starter once camp opened. Gardner Minshew and rookie Carson Beck sit behind him.
Coaches graded him higher than executives, the third-largest split in that direction behind only Tua Tagovailoa and Dak Prescott, Sando wrote. The execs were tougher.
“He’s a classic 4,” one exec said. “Great veteran presence, everything very positive, except, you know, when he has to play for long stints.”
That’s the quarterback the Cardinals are paying up to $21 million to start for a full season. Arizona is asking a career backup to hold the job for 17 games, which is the one thing the tiers suggest he isn’t built to do.
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