ATHENS - Carson Beck’s first NFL start could come in the most unexpected way: by stepping in for the same kind of elbow injury that once derailed his Georgia career.
ESPN reported that Arizona quarterback Gardner Minshew ll “probably” needs season-ending surgery on his right ulnar collateral ligament. If that holds, Beck would be next in line for the Cardinals. ESPN added that Minshew is seeking additional medial opinions to confirm whether surgery is necessary.
That would put Beck in a spot he has yet to reach in a regular-season game. The former Georgia starter, who spent five of his six college seasons with the Bulldogs before transferring to Miami for his final year, has not taken an NFL regular-season snap.
Beck’s path to this point has already been shaped by that elbow injury. He had planned to finish his career at Georgia, but he suffered the injury on the final play of the first half of the 2024 SEC Championship Game against Texas. He originally entered the 2025 NFL Draft, then was advised by his agent to return to college after learning how the injury would affect his draft stock.
“I didn’t know I’d get injured at the end of the season, I didn’t know that I was going to end up coming back to college for another year, that was never the plan,” Beck said.
“It’s like, Gunner (Stockton) is next up, that’s the thing, it’s his turn to be the quarterback at the University of Georgia. So when I had decided to not go to the NFL and come back, I was going to go somewhere else. That’s how it all worked out.”
Stockton had already taken over for Beck in the SEC title game, leading Georgia to a 22-19 comeback win over Texas, then started in the 23-10 CFP quarterfinal loss to Notre Dame before Beck made the decision to return to college football.
Beck spent his final season at Miami, where he led the Hurricanes to the CFP Championship Game and a 27-21 loss to Indiana.
Arizona, meanwhile, is dealing with a thin roster around its quarterback situation. The Cardinals are 3-6 and host the winless Los Angeles Chargers, 0-8, at 4:05 p.m. on Sunday. Beck was in the second-string role last week after spending the first eight weeks as the emergency third quarterback.
The Cardinals are also missing two starting offensive linemen and three starting wide receivers.
Coach Mike LaFleur said the offense would not need a makeover if Beck ends up taking over.
“Yeah, I mean it’s not like it’s the difference between a wing-T offense and a spread offense,” LaFleur told ESPN.com. “Foundationally, we’re going to do a lot of the similar stuff and a lot of the stuff that Carson likes and is good at is the same stuff that Gardner likes. They like this system, and so that’s not a hard one.”
Beck has already shown a little of what he can do in the preseason. In the only NFL preseason game he played, he completed 15 of 19 passes for 188 yards and a touchdown without an interception. He started the game and played through the opening series of the third quarter.
Arizona also signed former Denver backup quarterback Josh Johnson to the roster as a backup option behind Beck. Johnson is 40 and appeared in five games for Washington last season, including two starts.
• Aaron Murray, 921
• David Greene, 849
• Eric Zeier, 838
• Carson Beck, 628
• Jake Fromm, 621
• Stetson Bennett, 601
• Matthew Stafford, 564
• Quincy Carter, 483
• Gunner Stockton, 465
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