ATHENS — The same type of elbow injury that ended Carson Beck’s career at Georgia could lead to his first NFL start on Sunday.

ESPN reported that Arizona starting quarterback Gardner Minshew ll “probably” needs season-ending surgery on his right ulnar collateral ligament, which makes Beck next man up for the Cardinals.

ESPN cited sources saying Minshew is seeking additional medial opinions to confirm if he’ll need the surgery.

Beck will join Matthew Stafford as Georgia’s sole alumni starting in the NFL, as Stetson Bennett lll continues in his back-up role behind Stafford with the Los Angeles Rams.

Beck, who spent five of his six years in college with the Bulldogs, racking up a 24-3 record as the starter in 2023 and 2024 before transferring to Miami for his final season, has yet to take an NFL regular-season snap.

Beck, who spent three years as a back-up at Georgia before getting his chance to start for Kirby Smart, planned to end his career with the Bulldogs before suffering an elbow injury on the final play of the first half of the 2024 SEC Championship Game against Texas.

Beck originally declared for the 2025 NFL Draft but was advised by his agent to return for another season of college football after realizing 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.”

Gunner Stockton had come on in relief of Beck to lead a 22-19 comeback win over Texas in the SEC title game and started in the 23-10 CFP quarterfinal loss to Notre Dame before Beck’s decision to return to college football.

Beck played his final season at Miami, leading the Hurricanes to the CFP Championship Game where they lost to Indiana, 27-21.

Th Cardinals (3-6), who play host to the winless Los Angeles Chargers (0-8) at 4:05 p.m. on Sunday, had Beck in the second-string role last week after spending the first eight weeks as the emergency third quarterback.

Arizona coach Mike LaFleur said the Cardinals offense won’t change if Beck takes it 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 had a strong outing in the only NFL preseason game he appeared in, completing 15 of 19 passes for 188 yards and a touchdown with no interceptions after starting the game and playing the opening series of the third quarter.

The Cardinals have also signed former Denver back-up quarterback Josh Johnson to be present in a back-up role to Beck. Johnson is a 40-year-old journeyman QB who appeared in five games for Washington last season, including two as a starter.

Georgia all-time passing completions

• 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