Jacoby Brissett Lands $15.5M Raise and Cardinals' QB1 Job for 2026
Arizona bumped Brissett from $4.88M to $15.5M guaranteed and named him Week 1 starter. Here's what it means for your fantasy draft.
Locked-in QB1 job, but 1-11 record makes him a late-round streamer at best.
- New deal: $15.5M guaranteed, up to $21M with incentives
- Up from $4.88M base salary in 2026
- 2025: 3,366 pass yds, career-high 23 TD, 8 INT
- Went 1-11 as a starter last season
- Our #17 QB, #38 overall in 2026 rankings
Arizona settled its quarterback question and its contract holdout in one move. The Cardinals agreed to a reworked deal with Jacoby Brissett that lifts his 2026 compensation to $15.5 million guaranteed, with incentives pushing it as high as $21 million, per ESPN. That's a massive jump from the $4.88 million base salary he was set to earn in year two of his original two-year deal.
The 33-year-old skipped most of Arizona's offseason program while pushing for the raise, then eased back in this week without taking 11-on-11 reps. Notably, the new money bought him a bigger check but no extra years — Brissett is still headed for unrestricted free agency after the season. Head coach Mike LaFleur said he's comfortable with where Brissett is in learning the new offense, praising his smarts and experience without setting any timeline.
From Backup to the Starter's Chair
This is the same job Brissett backed into last year. He opened 2025 as QB2 behind Kyler Murray, then took over when Murray got hurt, starting 12 of the 14 games he played. The record was ugly — 1-11 — but the counting stats weren't: 3,366 passing yards, a career-high 23 touchdowns and just eight interceptions on a 3-14 team.
Murray, the 2019 No. 1 overall pick, is gone, released this offseason and now in Minnesota. That clears the depth chart for Brissett, with Gardner Minshew and Carson Beck rounding out the room. So the veteran on his sixth franchise walks into Week 1 as the unquestioned starter when Arizona opens on the road against the Chargers on Sept. 13.
The Fantasy Fallout
Brissett produced usable volume last season, finishing with 233 PPR points in 2025 (his actual result across 14 games), which lands him at #17 among quarterbacks and #38 overall in our 2026 rankings. That's the profile of a matchup-based streamer, not a set-it-and-forget-it QB1. The 23 touchdowns are encouraging, but they came on a losing team throwing to catch up, and the 1-11 record tells you the surrounding cast still has holes.
For fantasy managers: don't reach. Brissett is a late-round dart in superflex or two-QB formats and a waiver-wire streamer in standard single-QB leagues. The job security is real now that Murray's out of the building, but until we see how LaFleur's offense clicks, treat him as a WATCH — draft the ceiling cheap, and let someone else pay for the touchdowns.
