Indianapolis Colts fans can likely agree that the team's quarterback situation is not perfect currently, but it might improve as the season grows older. Starter Daniel Jones is recovering from tearing his Achilles tendon in Week 14 last season. His backups, Anthony Richardson and Riley Leonard, still need to prove their true worth.
Still, Indy's situation is better than that of two former Colts quarterbacks, who are both toiling for the Arizona Cardinals, have it. Well, one is toiling, and one is choosing not to right now.
Gardner Minshew, Indy's starter for most of the 2023 season, and Jacoby Brissett, who mostly started in two of his four seasons with the team, are battling for QB1 duties with the terrible Cardinals, along with third-round draft pick Carson Beck. Brissett, however, is causing issues with the team's culture.
Former Indianapolis Colts quarterbacks Gardner Minshew and Jacoby Brissett are stuck with the Arizona Cardinals
The quarterback is choosing not to show at Arizona's voluntary team activities because he wants more of his 2026 contract guaranteed, clearly believing he will be the team's starter next season. That might not be the case, however. Minshew has somewhat solid starting experience in the league, and he could beat Brissett out for QB1 duties.
Two former Colts quarterbacks who didn't overlap in Indianapolis being on the same team in Arizona is odd. To make matters worse for Garnder, who only signed with the Cardinals in free agency this offseason, he joined a team that doesn't know how to win, and a quarterback doing a mini-holdout who had a won-loss record with Arizona in 2025 of 1-11.
Brissett has a cap number of $9,190,000 in 2026, of which only $1.5 million is guaranteed (that's the part he wants to be higher), and no other team is likely to pay him more than $9 million, as for most teams, he wouldn't be expected to battle for the starting spot.
If the Arizona Cardinals truly want to reset their culture, they would just release Jacoby Brissett. The team isn't going to win much in a brutal NFC West anyway. Brissett's attitude isn't needed.
Maybe the Cardinals could do something drastic. Perhaps they could switch one former Indianapolis Colts quarterback for another. Indy is still trying to shop Anthony Richardson, after all. The Cardinals would be smart to let Brissett leave and give Richardson a chance for one year to have a real path to starting. That situation would be better than what Arizona currently has.
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