Until the undrafted rookie Joe Fagnano As the starting quarterback in Week 9, the injury-riddled Ravens will land an established option before the trade deadline. They are finalizing an agreement to acquire Jacoby Brissett of the Cardinals, ESPN’s Adam Schefter and Ian Rapoport report.
The two teams are expected to complete the trade after Thursday night’s game between Baltimore and the Jaguars, according to Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer, potentially as early as Friday. The Ravens’ needs before the game likely explain the delay.
The dot connection here proved key after the Cardinals benched Brissett. Arizona demoted its two-year starter to third string on Monday, doing so as he rose Gardner Minshew as a starter and third-round rookie Carson Beck at the save point. The Ravens spent the same day battling at quarterback, with Lamar Jackson And Tyler Huntley out. Jackson is on IR and Huntley’s toe injury will end his season. Baltimore will act quickly and bring Brissett back to the AFC North.
Ravens quarterbacks coach, Israeli wool forkwas in place as Cardinals QB coach from 2023 to 25 under Drew Petzing. Woolfork and Brissett will meet in Baltimore in case of emergency. Brissett, 33, will join a seventh NFL team and will likely be asked back to take on an extended starting role on short notice. This is a specialty of the 11th year veteran.
In 2017, the Colts acquired Brissett from the Patriots just before the season. Brissett did not start Week 1 but replaced Scott Tolzien in the Colts’ first game and started the remainder of the season in place of an injured Andrew Chance. The then-Indianapolis franchise cornerstone returned and played through the 2018 season, but destroyed the AFC South team’s long-term plans by announcing a shocking retirement in August 2019. Brissett returned to a starting role with Indy that year.
After a one-year stop with the Dolphins in 2021, Brissett had to take another long run in a QB1 role once the NFL secured the trade acquisition of the Browns. Deshaun Watson an 11-game suspension under the personal conduct policy. Woolfork was beginning his NFL coaching career (via a Bill Walsh scholarship) during Brissett’s stop in Cleveland, and he reunited with the nomadic passer once the Cardinals signed him in 2025. Arizona abandoned its Petzing offensive plan after he was fired. Jonathan Gannon after last season, but Brissett and Woolfork will work together a third time once this trade is complete.
The Cardinals offered Brissett a two-year, $12.5 million contract but agreed to a raise this summer. Arizona had tied Minshew to more guaranteed money for 2026 (via a one-year, $5.75 million deal) than its starter, so the sides agreed to a fully guaranteed, one-year, $15.5 million deal. Brissett’s revised deal carries a base salary of $9.7 million. The Ravens will owe about $5 million in prorated salary unless the Cards agree to part of the compensation to facilitate a trade.
The Ravens will start Joe Fagnano Thursday evening with Austin Reed serving as his replacement and Kedon Slovis as the No. 3 emergency quarterback. But Fagnano, an undrafted rookie out of UConn, seems unlikely to keep his team’s playoff hopes alive pending an updated Jackson return timetable. Brissett could start as early as the Week 10 game between Baltimore and the Chargers, which would give him more than a week to get acclimated. Declan DoyleThis is an infraction.
A loss to the Jaguars would bring the Ravens to 4-5, keeping them at the bottom of the AFC North. The winless Chargers are obviously beatable, and Baltimore’s next two opponents, the Panthers and Texans, have been up and down this year.
Brissett has a chance to get a few wins before a late-season return from Jackson will propel the team into the playoffs. But this Ravens team had obvious problems even when Jackson was on the field with an offensive line and secondary that were both leaky far too much to start the season. Even if Brissett can stabilize the offense, he may not be able to elevate the unit high enough to overcome the Ravens’ struggling defense.
Nikhil Mehta and Connor Byrne contributed to this post.
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