Last Sunday, Jacoby Brissett was Arizona’s starting quarterback. By Monday, he’d been bumped to third string. By Wednesday, he was on his way to Baltimore, where the Ravens suddenly needed a veteran quarterback who could run an NFL offense.

That’s one heck of a week.

Gardner Minshew’s comeback win in Dallas pushed Brissett behind both Minshew and rookie Carson Beck. At the same time, Baltimore lost Lamar Jackson and Tyler Huntley in the same afternoon. Jackson needed surgery on his throwing thumb, while Huntley’s turf toe was reportedly season-ending. Suddenly, the Ravens were asking an undrafted rookie with a wrapped ankle to keep the whole thing together.

The trade became official Friday, and Brissett’s expected to start against the Chargers in Week 10. After watching that 33-10 loss, it’s easy to see why the Ravens didn’t want to wait around for him to get comfortable.

They don’t need Brissett to become Lamar. They just need to be able to call a pass without making it feel like a gamble.

Arizona Had Their Reasons

Let’s get this out of the way: Brissett wasn't suddenly available because the Cardinals had too many good quarterbacks.

He went 10-of-23 for 119 yards and an interception against Dallas before getting pulled with Arizona down 17-3. Minshew came in and threw three touchdowns to help turn it into a 33-30 overtime win. Mike LaFleur didn’t just change starters afterward. He moved Brissett all the way to the emergency quarterback spot.

LaFleur acknowledged the bigger issue:

This wasn't all on him. This was collective, starting with me.

Fair enough. But Brissett’s part of that collective wasn’t working, either.

Last season, he threw for 3,366 yards, 23 touchdowns, and eight interceptions in 14 appearances, including 12 starts. That’s the version Baltimore’s hoping to get. This year, though, his eight starts produced 1,719 yards, 10 touchdowns, and seven picks. His yards per attempt dropped from 6.9 to 5.6, and his passer rating fell from 94.1 to 79.7.

That’s a pretty big drop in production, with almost as many interceptions already. Experienced doesn’t automatically mean effective.

Even those better 2025 numbers need some context. Arizona went 1-11 in his starts. Quarterback wins aren’t an individual stat, and that team had plenty of problems beyond the quarterback, but nobody should look at 23 touchdowns and decide Baltimore just found someone who can carry a broken team.

What Brissett has shown is that he can keep a passing game functional. After Thursday, that would count as progress.

Thursday Showed How Small the Offense Had Gotten

Joe Fagnano finished his first NFL start with 60 passing yards and two interceptions. Derrick Henry took 10 direct snaps. Mark Andrews took snaps, too. Declan Doyle was trying pretty much everything to get through the night without asking his rookie quarterback to do too much.

I get the reasoning. Fagnano was dealing with a short week, a bad ankle, and a nasty Jacksonville defense waiting for him. It’s not like there was some obvious, painless answer sitting on the call sheet.

But there’s only so long you can work around your quarterback.

Fagnano attempted just one pass that traveled at least 10 air yards. Baltimore only managed 10 first downs and went 4-of-14 on third down. Both interceptions came on throws toward Zay Flowers, with Montaric Brown and Jourdan Lewis jumping similar out routes.

Flowers finished with three catches for six yards. Six. That’s a full game from your best receiver, and it’s hard to win that way.

Henry had 57 yards on 17 carries because the defense had no reason not to crowd the line of scrimmage. Justice Hill’s 65-yard touchdown made the rushing total look a little better, but Baltimore was already down 33-3 when he broke it. The Ravens had gone nine possessions without scoring after their opening field goal.

You can keep handing Henry the ball. You can snap it directly to him. Eventually, somebody still has to make the defense worry about what happens when he doesn’t get it.

That’s where Brissett can help. Completing an intermediate throw on first down would do way more for this offense than adding another layer of backfield trickery.

A Familiar Coach Helps. So Does Having Done This Before.

Brissett comes to town with 73 career starts and a relationship with quarterbacks coach Israel Woolfork that could matter right away. They worked together in Cleveland in 2022 and Arizona in 2025 — when Brissett put together his best statistical season.

Woolfork already knows how he learns, which throws he’s comfortable making, and where things can start to go sideways. That should help Doyle figure out which parts of the offense they can get in first.

That doesn’t mean Brissett knows Baltimore’s playbook. He’s still learning new terminology and getting used to new teammates in November. But at least the coach teaching him has already seen which throws and concepts bring out his best.

His history of protecting the ball helps, too. But this season’s seven picks are a reminder that a good reputation doesn’t make the next throw a good one, but there’s a much longer track record behind it.

The Ravens paid for that experience. They sent Arizona a 2027 fourth-round pick and a 2028 seventh, getting Brissett and a 2027 fifth back. Arizona also picked up more than half of his remaining salary, according to Ian Rapoport. It’s a manageable deal, but there’s still a real cost when Baltimore’s quarterback room falls apart.

Now Doyle has to give that investment a chance. I’d start with defined reads, quick throws to Flowers, and play-action that gives Andrews room behind linebackers stepping toward Henry. Keep extra protection in for the deeper shots. Make the easy stuff dependable enough that taking it doesn’t feel reckless.

Brissett isn’t going to hold the backside defender the way Jackson does. Those rushing lanes aren’t going to magically reappear just because the veteran showed up. Baltimore has to make defenses pay through the air first, then Henry might get a little more room.

Give Lamar Something to Come Back To

The latest reporting makes this a little more complicated than just surviving a couple of Sundays. Rapoport reported that Jackson’s fractured and dislocated right thumb comes with a six-to-nine-week recovery window. Jackson has reportedly told teammates he plans to come back this season, which is nice. But it’s not exactly a firm return date.

Baltimore’s 4-5 and riding a four-game losing streak. The defense has given up more than 30 points in three straight games, and the offense had four false starts against Jacksonville. Brissett can help settle things down at quarterback. The rest of this team still has plenty to clean up.

Ronnie Stanley put it pretty plainly:

I don’t think anyone can just come in and fix all the problems.

Hard to argue with that.

Still, there’s a little room on the schedule. The Chargers, trips to Carolina and Houston, a bye, then Tampa Bay. After that, four straight division games close out the regular season. The goal is to stay close enough for those games to actually mean something.

And Brissett’s already shown what a useful game against Los Angeles can look like. In Arizona’s season opener, he completed 27 of 37 passes for 277 yards, a touchdown, and no interceptions in a 26-14 win.

Give Baltimore that kind of performance, and Henry gets some help. Flowers gets a chance to make something happen after the catch. The defense gets a few possessions where giving up a touchdown doesn’t feel like the end of the night.

That’s the job. Keep the offense moving. Win enough games that Lamar has a reason to come back.

All stats courtesy of Fantasy Points Data.

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