ClutchPoints
There’s still a chance the Arizona Cardinals could keep quarterback Kyler Murray, but the head coaching decision has been made. And here are the head coach and quarterback the Cardinals must bring in to replace Jonathan Gannon and Murray.
The Cardinals closed the 2025 season with nine straight losses, sealing Gannon’s fate. Jacoby Brissett took over for an injured Murray in that stretch, but Brissett is a career backup and nothing more.
So what do the Cardinals do at the quarterback position? They have three options: Keep Murray, draft a QB, or sign a free agent.
With the No. 3 overall pick, the Cardinals likely won’t be able to get their hands on Fernando Mendoza or Dante Moore. The quarterback-needy Raiders and Jets will likely poach those top two prospects.
And that means the Cardinals have two choices. They could perhaps overpay a little and draft Alabama’s Ty Simpson in the No. 3 spot. Or they could take a chance and trade down a few spots and still get him. One mock draft had him slipping to No. 20 overall.
But the safe thing to do is go ahead and cast their lot with Simpson. Why? Because he is polished and ready for the NFL game, according to nfldraftbuzz.com.
“Simpson stands alone as the most NFL-ready quarterback in the country — a declaration that sounds hyperbolic until you watch him dissect defenses with the precision of a ten-year veteran,” NFL Draft Buzz wrote earlier this season. “The tape doesn’t lie: this is a first-year starter executing concepts and making reads that franchise quarterbacks take years to master.
“Teams desperate for their next franchise quarterback should be circling his name at the top of their board, because what he lacks in prototypical measurables he more than compensates for with the rarest commodity in football — elite quarterback intellect married to flawless execution.”
What’s not to like? Simpson basically offers things that Murray couldn’t master despite seven years in the league. Murray turned into basically a low-20s touchdown number guy with double-digit interceptions. Simpson offers an eventual upside of 30 while keeping the picks at, or below, 10.
Here’s another blast of praise about Simpson.
“The historical context here matters enormously,” NFL Draft Buzz wrote. “No first-year starting quarterback has ever displayed this level of command, this degree of pre-snap mastery, this consistency of execution week after week against SEC competition. Even Andrew Luck, the gold standard for quarterback prospects this century, showed more inconsistency early in his career than Simpson has through five games.”
If the Cardinals are willing to commit to a quarterback in the first round, they should grab an offensive-minded coach. They should avoid Brian Flores or Vance Joseph and grab Seattle Seahawks offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak. He is a coach ready to take the next step, according to USA Today.
“Kubiak, 38, is an up-and-coming offensive mind who led the Seahawks to a top-10 finishes...
