Cardinals, Jacoby Brissett Contract Drama Still Lingering

ARIZONA — The Arizona Cardinals and quarterback Jacoby Brissett are still in a contract stand-off as voluntary offseason team activities progress.

"Same as where we were a few weeks ago," Cardinals head coach Mike LaFleur told reporters when asked about Brissett.

Brissett, entering the final year of his deal, is in search of a new contract. While the specific demands haven't been made public, the Cardinals' veteran quarterback is likely wanting a pay bump and an extra year added to his deal.

Arizona, per reports, is willing to work with Brissett on a new contract and has told him privately he is the starting quarterback this season.

Brissett is the projected starting quarterback for a Cardinals room that also features Gardner Minshew, Carson Beck and Kedon Slovis.

This is LaFleur's first stint as a head coach, and despite Brissett having no experience in his offense, LaFleur says in terms of schematics — Brissett should be very familiar.

"It's not mandatory, right? And like I've said with Jacoby and all veterans I've ever been around, they've played football," LaFleur continued.

"The hardest thing to do in this league is get used to the speed of the game, and even for not just the rookie, but the second-year, third-year guy, and he's played a lot of football. He's done probably everything that we've ever done schematically, it's just a little bit different verbiage."

Since Brissett is missing voluntary offseason team activities, he is not subject to fines. That would only be done if he misses mandatory minicamp, where the fines can't be waived by the team even if they do strike a new deal per the NFL's Collective Bargaining Agreement.

After today, the Cardinals will have more voluntary offseason team activities on May 21, May 26–27, May 29, June 1–2, and June 4. Mandatory minicamp is June 8-10.

When asked if Brissett has the playbook, LaFleur said:

"We've had contact, I'll keep it at that."

The Cardinals have receieved plenty of flack online for "bending to the knee" of a quarterback who went 1-11 as a starter last season. On the flip side of that argument, Brissett is clearly expected to become Arizona's starter this season and is currently on a deal he signed to be (and pay him like) the team's secondary option.

It does feel like the two sides will reach an agreement before training camp, which is unofficially set for mid-July.