So do we start Beck?

[PACardsFan]

The simple fact that Cards fans like Jacoby after he went 1-11 because he will stand in the pocket and throw over the middle says a lot. We haven’t seen that in 7 years.

For the life of me I cannot understand why people cannot look at ALL THE FRICKIN INJURIES this team had on BOTH sides of the ball last year to explain why we went 3-14. Even if we had Peyton Manning or Brady in their prime, they may have won 5-6 games last year. We had an extremely young team last year, starters AND backups. We did not have enough experience in the backup department to overcome all the starters that missed games. Some on this board will bring up the Niners again and again and again. But they fail to come to grips with the fact that the Niners had a far more experienced bench to rely on & they had their star HOF RB available to them the entire season. The Cardinals were playing with RB4, 5, 6, and 7 by week 5 or 6. If our RB room this year stays even remotely healthy, any average QB can make this offense work.

 

[Cheesebeef]

For the life of me I cannot understand why people cannot look at ALL THE FRICKIN INJURIES this team had on BOTH sides of the ball last year to explain why we went 3-14. Even if we had Peyton Manning or Brady in their prime, they may have won 5-6 games last year. We had an extremely young team last year, starters AND backups. We did not have enough experience in the backup department to overcome all the starters that missed games. Some on this board will bring up the Niners again and again and again. But they fail to come to grips with the fact that the Niners had a far more experienced bench to rely on & they had their star HOF RB available to them the entire season. The Cardinals were playing with RB4, 5, 6, and 7 by week 5 or 6. If our RB room this year stays even remotely healthy, any average QB can make this offense work.

and what about the Vikings, Packers, Lions and on and on - all of which had massive injuries - the Vikings were down to their 3rd QB and injuries everywhere and won 9 games. The Niners are just the most stark and obvious evidence that flies in the face of your excuses why had the worst record in football, but they weren't the only MASH unit who rose above and found ways not to completely and utterly embarrass themselves week in and week out.

 

[PACardsFan]

and what about the Vikings, Packers, Lions and on and on - all of which had massive injuries - the Vikings were down to their 3rd QB and injuries everywhere and won 9 games. The Niners are just the most stark and obvious evidence that flies in the face of your excuses why had the worst record in football, but they weren't the only MASH unit who rose above and found ways not to completely and utterly embarrass themselves week in and week out.

The Vikings didn’t make the playoffs after winning 14 games last year. The same applies to the Lions. The Packers lost their last 5-6 games. They ALL had experienced rosters, so they were better able to survive massive injuries. The Cardinals had VERY VERY YOUNG backups & over time, they just couldn’t compete once they were playing 3rd, 4th, and 5th string players. The Cardinals lost like 5 of 6 games by 4 points or less. It was only because the injuries kept coming that they eventually became unwatchable. Argue with me all you want, but I follow injuries for a living.

 

[Phrazbit]

The Vikings didn’t make the playoffs after winning 14 games last year. The same applies to the Lions. The Packers lost their last 5-6 games. They ALL had experienced rosters, so they were better able to survive massive injuries. The Cardinals had VERY VERY YOUNG backups & over time, they just couldn’t compete once they were playing 3rd, 4th, and 5th string players. The Cardinals lost like 5 of 6 games by 4 points or less. It was only because the injuries kept coming that they eventually became unwatchable. Argue with me all you want, but I follow injuries for a living.

Our lack of depth was a choice. We had cap space that we didn't use, we're doing it again this year.

 

[PACardsFan]

Our lack of depth was a choice. We had cap space that we didn't use, we're doing it again this year.

It wasn’t because we had a lack of depth. We had plenty of depth. We’ve drafted 28 players over the last 3 years. The problem was that we had YOUNG, inexperienced depth. The Cardinals made it very clear when we hired Monti that we would be a draft and develop team. We wouldn’t be doing what his predecessor did back in 2022 by giving away all our draft capital when injuries hit. Without the MASSIVE number of injuries, last year’s team was a playoff caliber team. That’s what injuries do. The Niners have had a SB caliber roster ever since they hired Shanahan & yet he’s had some horrible records also when his team has had a ton of injuries:
2017 6-10
2018 4-12
2020 6-10
2024 6-11

McVay has been far more fortunate than Shanahan when it comes to injuries, but they went 5-12 in 2022, the year after winning the SB. That was 100% because of injuries. Regardless of the BS about next man up, injuries DO matter, and they always have.

 

[Phrazbit]

It wasn’t because we had a lack of depth. We had plenty of depth. We’ve drafted 28 players over the last 3 years. The problem was that we had YOUNG, inexperienced depth. The Cardinals made it very clear when we hired Monti that we would be a draft and develop team. We wouldn’t be doing what his predecessor did back in 2022 by giving away all our draft capital when injuries hit. Without the MASSIVE number of injuries, last year’s team was a playoff caliber team. That’s what injuries do. The Niners have had a SB caliber roster ever since they hired Shanahan & yet he’s had some horrible records also when his team has had a ton of injuries:
2017 6-10
2018 4-12
2020 6-10
2024 6-11

McVay has been far more fortunate than Shanahan when it comes to injuries, but they went 5-12 in 2022, the year after winning the SB. That was 100% because of injuries. Regardless of the BS about next man up, injuries DO matter, and they always have.

I disagree that they were a playoff caliber team. They should have won more games, but they came out of the gates and looked pretty lousy while healthy, we won 2 games against two awful teams, scraping by, lost to the Niners when they already were a MASH unit, then had maybe the ugliest loss I've ever seen against the Titans.

 

[THESMEL]

Not ready to say, let’s see -what no preseason? can’t point us in the right direction. Hmm hell let’s wing it - may find out who or we are not - by the 4th game of the regular season. Of course could be out of playoffs by then . Not my teenage NFL, bunch of teetotalers

 

[Phrazbit]

Not my teenage NFL, bunch of teetotalers

I don't think the NFL is lacking in drunks. The Georgia Bulldogs alone supply several DUI violations per season.

 

[daves]

what about the Vikings, Packers, Lions and on and on

By no means do I support the claim that the Cardinals were "a playoff caliber team" were it not for their extreme number of injuries... but two of your examples suffered just as big or bigger drop-off from the year before as the Cardinals:

Cardinals 2024: 8 wins; 2025: 3 wins; difference: -5 wins
Vikings 2024: 14 wins; 2025: 9 wins; difference: -5 wins
Lions 2024: 15 wins; 2025: 9 wins; difference: -6 wins
Packers 2024: 11 wins; 2025: 9.5 wins; difference: -1.5 wins

And those teams didn't have as tough a schedule as the Cardinals.

Injuries play a huge factor in teams' win totals every year.

That said... I think even a healthy Cardinals team would've been lucky to reach .500 last year.

 

[BullheadCardFan]

Without the MASSIVE number of injuries, last year’s team was a playoff caliber team.

You must be registered for see images attach

 

[Stout]

You must be registered for see images attach

He's sure. He's wrong, but he's sure

 

[Cardsfanstl]

For the life of me I cannot understand why people cannot look at ALL THE FRICKIN INJURIES this team had on BOTH sides of the ball last year to explain why we went 3-14. Even if we had Peyton Manning or Brady in their prime, they may have won 5-6 games last year. We had an extremely young team last year, starters AND backups. We did not have enough experience in the backup department to overcome all the starters that missed games. Some on this board will bring up the Niners again and again and again. But they fail to come to grips with the fact that the Niners had a far more experienced bench to rely on & they had their star HOF RB available to them the entire season. The Cardinals were playing with RB4, 5, 6, and 7 by week 5 or 6. If our RB room this year stays even remotely healthy, any average QB can make this offense work.

I think you make some sense. Even with all the injuries how many games did the team lose by less than a TD. After Murray went out I was all for playing the young players. In a few of those games they were competitive plus they gained experience. Find out if they can play. Lack of depth and experience hurt this team.

 

[oaken1]

Can’t disagree with that, but Kyler did some scrambles nobody else could - I guess I’m over it - he is already run out of town - Vikings get 57 million in value from our fans, including me - our media and fans are still toxic - look at the anti support they give beck

We replaced kyler with a stellar runningback..
Runningback Smelly!!
Explosive ground game. You been screaming for it for decades... it's about to happen...
The Thesmal Dream Season of 2026 is on the horizon brother!!

 

[oaken1]

By no means do I support the claim that the Cardinals were "a playoff caliber team" were it not for their extreme number of injuries... but two of your examples suffered just as big or bigger drop-off from the year before as the Cardinals:

Cardinals 2024: 8 wins; 2025: 3 wins; difference: -5 wins
Vikings 2024: 14 wins; 2025: 9 wins; difference: -5 wins
Lions 2024: 15 wins; 2025: 9 wins; difference: -6 wins
Packers 2024: 11 wins; 2025: 9.5 wins; difference: -1.5 wins

And those teams didn't have as tough a schedule as the Cardinals.

Injuries play a huge factor in teams' win totals every year.

That said... I think even a healthy Cardinals team would've been lucky to reach .500 last year.

Except prior to game one every one was predicting 10 wins.
To say they were destined to fail is revisionist history...
Folks on this forum were floored with how poorly they came out of the gates and piling injuries just made it continually worse.

I still point to something behind the scenes..your starting QB questioning if he will be here in two years in an interview...in like week 3...is a sure sign of internal strife

 

[CardNots]

Folks on this forum were floored with how poorly they came out of the gates and piling injuries just made it continually worse.

amen

 

[Harry]

I am certain Beck is not an NFL starting QB. He might be a backup. The most certain way to be sure he isn’t even that is to start him.

 

[Chopper0080]

It wasn’t because we had a lack of depth. We had plenty of depth. We’ve drafted 28 players over the last 3 years. The problem was that we had YOUNG, inexperienced depth. The Cardinals made it very clear when we hired Monti that we would be a draft and develop team. We wouldn’t be doing what his predecessor did back in 2022 by giving away all our draft capital when injuries hit. Without the MASSIVE number of injuries, last year’s team was a playoff caliber team. That’s what injuries do. The Niners have had a SB caliber roster ever since they hired Shanahan & yet he’s had some horrible records also when his team has had a ton of injuries:
2017 6-10
2018 4-12
2020 6-10
2024 6-11

McVay has been far more fortunate than Shanahan when it comes to injuries, but they went 5-12 in 2022, the year after winning the SB. That was 100% because of injuries. Regardless of the BS about next man up, injuries DO matter, and they always have.

I mean...every team is gong to have a full roster. It's the quality of those players that determines if you have "depth". Just because 28 players were drafted doesn't mean they are good even if they are on the roster.

 

[PACardsFan]

I disagree that they were a playoff caliber team. They should have won more games, but they came out of the gates and looked pretty lousy while healthy, we won 2 games against two awful teams, scraping by, lost to the Niners when they already were a MASH unit, then had maybe the ugliest loss I've ever seen against the Titans.

You can disagree all you want because we’ll never really know. The fact remains though that we were a combined 12 points from starting the season 7-0 & we were down QB1, RB1 & RB2 for a few of those 7 games. And that’s not even taking into account the defensive injuries. Were the Saints & Panthers really awful?? Both of their defenses were pretty good & the Panthers made the playoffs with a nice win over the Rams, a loss that contributed mightily to them not winning the NFCW & losing home field advantage throughout the playoffs. Injuries do matter.

 

[PACardsFan]

I mean...every team is gong to have a full roster. It's the quality of those players that determines if you have "depth". Just because 28 players were drafted doesn't mean they are good even if they are on the roster.

They were young & not ready to compete against powerhouses like SEA, LAR, SF. We’ll find out over the next couple years as to just how good some of them truly are. When the Cardinals gutted their roster in 2023 & committed to a draft & development process, they had to know that massive injuries would have the effect that it had on them in 2025. It was Bidwill that wanted to take that approach, and you’ll never get me to say anything too nice about the Bidwill family’s ability to make good decisions.

 

[Cheesebeef]

The Vikings didn’t make the playoffs after winning 14 games last year. The same applies to the Lions. The Packers lost their last 5-6 games. They ALL had experienced rosters, so they were better able to survive massive injuries. The Cardinals had VERY VERY YOUNG backups & over time, they just couldn’t compete once they were playing 3rd, 4th, and 5th string players. The Cardinals lost like 5 of 6 games by 4 points or less. It was only because the injuries kept coming that they eventually became unwatchable. Argue with me all you want, but I follow injuries for a living.

The Vikings still WON 9 GAMES. The Lions still WON 9 GAMES. The Packers MADE THE PLAYOFFS.

And YOU specifically last year blathered on and on about how we were building "the right way" and finally in YEAR 3 WE COULD COMPETE WITH THOSE TEAMS. YOU talked about how we had built great depth and had amazing drafts. That means we should have been able to deal with injuries as they did no? Not only did we not deal with injuries anywhere close to them, we ended up with THE WORST RECORD IN FOOTBALL.

I mean, what you're basically saying is that our roster construction was pathetic and we relied too heavily on the draft and unproven players and after 3 years of a rebuild, we had really rebuilt very little. Yay.

 

[Chopper0080]

They were young & not ready to compete against powerhouses like SEA, LAR, SF. We’ll find out over the next couple years as to just how good some of them truly are. When the Cardinals gutted their roster in 2023 & committed to a draft & development process, they had to know that massive injuries would have the effect that it had on them in 2025. It was Bidwill that wanted to take that approach, and you’ll never get me to say anything too nice about the Bidwill family’s ability to make good decisions.

So this means that we didn't have depth and still don't have depth.

 

[Cardinal88]

I am certain Beck is not an NFL starting QB. He might be a backup. The most certain way to be sure he isn’t even that is to start him.

How can be so “certain”? Yes you’ve scouted and your opinion means a lot more than anyone else on our board but to be sure???? Can his arm strength come back to what it was in 2024? Did he learn how to QB with a lesser arm in 2025? Can a young immature boy mature as a man? These are just a few questions and would not say sure as if it’s 100%.

Being put in the right environment with positivity can change a lot of things. My talents didn’t change when I was younger but even now when I feel good, I play pretty good. Power of the mind baby. Let’s go Cardinals!

 

[Harry]

How can be so “certain”? Yes you’ve scouted and your opinion means a lot more than anyone else on our board but to be sure???? Can his arm strength come back to what it was in 2024? Did he learn how to QB with a lesser arm in 2025? Can a young immature boy mature as a man? These are just a few questions and would not say sure as if it’s 100%.

Being put in the right environment with positivity can change a lot of things. My talents didn’t change when I was younger but even now when I feel good, I play pretty good. Power of the mind baby. Let’s go Cardinals!

Lots of good, valid opinions on the board. I used “certain” to indicate my degree of believing my statement. I could have said “no doubt in my mind.” First arm strength, it’s very weak and subject to further injury. The “Tommy John-lite” approach IMO was a bad compromise. With TJ in 2 years arm strength typically returns to normal. No such assurance with “lite.” Can you play with a weak arm? The NFL, has become a passing league. If a QB can’t throw deep, defenders can move up the safeties and blitz more often. It’s very hard to compete. Maturity is an interesting question. I don’t believe his attitude was necessarily being caused by immaturity. Maybe time fixes it, but I believe over an extended period of time true character is exposed. I don’t like Beck’s chances of being one of the guys. I hope the Cards’ atmosphere is one of positivity. History wouldn’t lean in that direction. I’d be happy with him proving me wrong. I like to win.

 

[Carolinacacti]

A great coach Bud Grant always said, it's not who you play but when you play them.

 

[oaken1]

Lots of good, valid opinions on the board. I used “certain” to indicate my degree of believing my statement. I could have said “no doubt in my mind.” First arm strength, it’s very weak and subject to further injury. The “Tommy John-lite” approach IMO was a bad compromise. With TJ in 2 years arm strength typically returns to normal. No such assurance with “lite.” Can you play with a weak arm? The NFL, has become a passing league. If a QB can’t throw deep, defenders can move up the safeties and blitz more often. It’s very hard to compete. Maturity is an interesting question. I don’t believe his attitude was necessarily being caused by immaturity. Maybe time fixes it, but I believe over an extended period of time true character is exposed. I don’t like Beck’s chances of being one of the guys. I hope the Cards’ atmosphere is one of positivity. History wouldn’t lean in that direction. I’d be happy with him proving me wrong. I like to win.

If I had to pick a reason Beck could fail to be a starting level QB... it is the simple fact that when he gets under heavy pressure,..his processing slows and he seeks to escape...
good starting quarterbacks maintain the ability to see the play develop slowly even under pressure...so far Carson Beck does not.
with his vast college experience one would think he would have a leg up in this department.