Jacoby Brissett didn’t get the same offseason runway as the rest of the Arizona Cardinals’ offense, but he does have one major advantage as Week 1 approaches: Matt Schaub.
That matters because Brissett is the Cardinals’ starting quarterback, and he’s the one who has to steer Mike LaFleur’s new offense against the Los Angeles Chargers. The rest of the unit has had training camp, preseason games, OTAs and minicamps to absorb the system. Brissett missed that full stretch, which left him behind while Gardner Minshew and rookie Carson Beck soaked in the new terminology and structure.
LaFleur was hired to rev up Arizona’s offense, and that meant installing a fresh system from scratch. That kind of change takes time.
It takes meetings, playbook study and plenty of practice reps before it starts to feel natural. For a quarterback, the challenge is even bigger because he has to know what everyone else is doing on every snap, not just his own assignment.
Brissett’s answer has been to work overtime with Schaub. The Cardinals brought Schaub in as quarterback coach, and he’s been right beside Brissett helping him get up to speed.
The first hurdle was the language of the offense, since the calls and terminology are different from last season. That doesn’t happen in a day, especially in a system where everyone has to be on the same page.
Schaub is a useful guide for that process. He spent 16 years in the league, played under five systems and had to adjust to a long list of offensive coordinators.
Just as important, he’s a former quarterback, so he can explain the offense from the same perspective Brissett is living it. The two can dig into the kinds of scheme details that only quarterbacks really talk through.
The coaching staff hasn’t eased Brissett into this. He’s been pushed with extra meetings, extra walk-throughs and a lot of questions.
The conversations he’s having with Schaub are different from the ones Schaub is having with Minshew and Beck, especially the rookie. Those talks aren’t as layered or cluttered with the kind of detail that can overwhelm a young player.
Brissett has responded by grinding through the work. He’s been mentally running through play calls, going through physical walk-throughs and then stacking actual practice reps on top of that. Schaub has been there for the details, whether it’s footwork, progressions or a small adjustment that needs to be made.
Arizona still has plenty to sort out, and the offensive line is part of that equation after adding three new starters. But the roster also gives this offense real talent to work with. For Brissett, the big question is how much of the system will be fully second nature by the time the season opens.
The honest answer is probably not all of it. But he also won’t be walking into Week 1 as some half-baked project. With Schaub helping him close the gap, Brissett is doing everything he can to make sure he’s ready when it counts.
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