Carson Beck Makes Case for Starting Job After Impressive NFL Debut

Thursday night’s Pro Football Hall of Fame Game between the Arizona Cardinals and the Carolina Panthers was a great night for Carson Beck.

The third-round pick started the scoring party during Thursday night’s surprisingly high-scoring preseason game. Beck shined in over two quarters of action, completing 11-of-14 passing attempts for 148 yards and one touchdown. That’s good for a 134.5 passer rating.

Now, it’s very important to remember that this is a game played between backups, third string, and fourth string players. This isn’t high level football. But for a rookie quarterback like Beck, this is a huge first building block.

It’s difficult to be a mid-round pick in the NFL.

Beck was the third quarterback in the 2026 draft class selected behind Fernando Mendoza and Ty Simpson, who were both first-round selections.

Typically, third-round quarterbacks don’t get a very long leash in the NFL. But starting your career strong with competent quarterback play is the one way to force an organization into wanting to see more.

The Cardinals are a mess. Make no bones about it, they’ll be one of the worst teams in the NFL this season. They’re very likely to have a high selection in the first round of the 2027 NFL Draft, just as they did in 2026 when they selected Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love. The 2027 class is supposed to be littered with premium quarterback talent, which could make it very easy to move on from Beck.

But Jacoby Brissett isn’t exactly a Patrick Mahomes or Josh Allen caliber talent. Gardner Minshew is Arizona’s expected backup quarterback, but let’s not pretend like we don’t know exactly what that looks like already.

If Arizona’s season goes in the tank, as it likely will, new Cardinals head coach Mike LaFleur should see what Beck can do. The 23-year-old is an older rookie that has played plenty of high-level college football. If any rookie quarterback would be capable of surprises during their first season, it would be Beck, who threw for over 11,000 yards and more than 80 touchdowns during his six seasons of college football.

More good news for Beck?

The Hall of Fame Game is a bonus preseason game.

The Cardinals still have three more of these things. And again, at this stage of their careers, we know what Brissett and Minshew are capable of.

LaFleur should get an extended look at Beck. If he plays like he did on Thursday evening, there’s no reason why he shouldn’t get starting action on a rebuilding Cardinals squad as a rookie.