Cardinals QB Jacoby Brissett learning quickly under Mike LaFleur

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  Josh WeinfussSep 1, 2026, 06:00 AM ET

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  Josh Weinfuss is a staff writer who covers the Arizona Cardinals and the NFL at ESPN. Josh has covered the Cardinals since 2012, joining ESPN in 2013. He is a member of the Pro Football Writers of America and a graduate of Indiana University.

TEMPE, Ariz. -- During the early days of Jacoby Brissett's return to the field on July 26 after a contract standoff, he was just trying to survive.

When the Arizona Cardinals quarterback first took the field early in training camp and started running new coach Mike LaFleur's offense for the first time, Brissett would stand in the huddle and tell the offense which play they were going to run based on what he called last season.

"This is what we did last [year]," Brissett would say, according to tight end Trey McBride. "This is what we called it last year."

Weeks later, those days are gone.

It's been more than five weeks since Brissett returned from a months-long holdout and hold in as he waited for a reworked contract, and every day since has been one step closer toward mastering the offense.

With Week 1 against the Los Angeles Chargers on the horizon, Brissett's grasp of the offense has grown by the day. At one point during camp, the 33-year-old described his progress as "leaps and bounds" beyond what his understanding of the scheme was when he first returned from his holdout.

"I feel like it's significantly better than when he first started," McBride said. "Obviously he's played a lot of football in his career and you can only make so many football plays up. We're running the same stuff. Maybe it's called a little bit different.

"He's kind of getting into the new terminology, and he's a fast learner. He's a smart guy. He spends a lot of time learning the game. So, it's been no issue for him. And I feel like right now he's very comfortable. He knows exactly what to do. And we're running and operating as a very good offense."

How Brissett learned the offense was an example of his maturity as NFL veteran heading into his 11th season.

Quarterbacks coach Matt Shaub didn't start from scratch when Brissett was ready to take the field for the first time in training camp after watching from the sidelines for the first three days as the final details of his new contract were hammered out.

"We really didn't hold back with slowing things down or trying to go back to the beginning of camp or even OTAs with everything," Schaub said. "It's just like, we're just going to keep going and he's done a great job of extra meetings, extra time in the room, talking through things, extra walkthroughs to be able to just catch up, if you will."

To get himself caught up as fast as he could, Brissett employed a variety of techniques to learn all the verbiage and information the coaches have thrown at him. The specific plays weren't necessarily new to Brissett, as LaFleur had proclaimed time and time again throughout Brissett's holdout. Everything else was, though.

Brissett would go through the playcalls in his head whenever LaFleur was presenting in front of the offense or the team during camp. Then there were all the opportunities to run through the plays physically through walk-throughs, pre-practice walk-throughs and then in practice.

"As you say it more and more and more, you get more comfortable with it and you kind of beat him to the punch on some of the plays," Brissett said. "So, it's finding new ways to learn the same stuff."

A lot of that falls on Schaub, the 45-year-old in his first year of coaching who played 16 seasons for the Falcons, Texans, Raiders and Ravens.

Schaub's approach to Brissett is quite different than if he were preparing rookie quarterback Carson Beck. Since Brissett has spent a decade in the NFL, Schaub talks things through with him more than younger quarterbacks, who he'd typically give a framework to and tell them to work within that.

With Brissett, Schaub would ask him: "Hey, what have you done? What are you comfortable with? How do you see this?" Their conversations are more discussions with a heavy dose of give-and-take, from footwork to concepts and beyond. With all their conversations, Schaub said, the end goal is to find "common ground in what we're actually trying to get done."

When Brissett takes the field at SoFi Stadium on Sept. 13, his work still won't be done. That'll be largely due to his still budding relationship with LaFleur. That's a work in progress.

The two have been working overtime to get to know each other since they didn't spend a second on the field together during OTAs or minicamp. Yet, from the moment that head coach-playcaller-quarterback relationship began in earnest on July 28, Brissett has been all in on building a rapport with LaFleur.

But like Brissett is still learning the nuances of the offense, he is still learning LaFleur. Brissett has picked up the most about his coach in specific practice situations like first down, second down, third down and red zone.

Every day, Brissett said he learns something new about LaFleur.

"We're still learning each other and what he likes to call, what do I like and stuff like that," Brissett said. "So, being able to be vulnerable enough to say like, 'Man, I don't like that.' And him say like, 'Oh, I messed up,' or, 'I like this right here because of this.' And that part of the learning part of the relationship I think is cool.

"I wouldn't say we're best friends because that'll be a lie. But I do like where our relationship is and his willingness and my willingness to merge our relationship and what he's doing with all the players on the team. He's building his own relationship with guys and it's been a joy to work with him."