![\"Arizona](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/michael-bidwill-cardinals-state-farm-stadium-2025-e1767649530207.jpg\")
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With the Cardinals trending in the wrong direction, Michael Bidwill ultimately chose to move on from head coach Jonathan Gannon.<\/p>\n
The Arizona Cardina<\/a>ls need a long-term solution at quarterback. While this draft is not exactly full of blue-chip quarterback prospects, fans are still divided on whether to take a signal-caller in the first round.<\/p>\n Since Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza will likely go to the Las Vegas Raiders<\/a> with the first overall pick, Alabama\u2019s Ty Simpson is the next best quarterback.<\/p>\n However, Simpson is not the prospect Mendoza is. Simpson is likely to be a later first-round pick, meaning the Cardinals<\/a> would have to trade back into the first round. So what do the Cardinals<\/a> do?<\/p>\n This conundrum was explored by The Athletic\u2019s Dane Brugler, who appeared on Arizona Sports\u2019 Bickley & Marotta\u00a0show.<\/a><\/p>\n What Did Brugler Say About Simpson and the Arizona Cardinals?<\/p>\n Is it worth taking Simpson in the first round for Arizona?<\/p>\n Simpson has one year of starting experience in college. Just 15 games of starting experience. This is part of what worries Brugler.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s no substitute for experience,\u201d Brugler said. \u201cHe graduated from Alabama before he threw his first touchdown pass. That\u2019s tough. You can start to make compromises when maybe he has the physical traits of an Anthony Richardson<\/a> when you have that size, that speed, that arm. Ty Simpson doesn\u2019t have that.<\/p>\n \u201cHe does do a lot of NFL<\/a> things. I think the way he navigates the pocket. You watch the first six games of the year, you think, \u2018This is an NFL starter. This is someone we want on our team.\u2019 Then you look at the back half of the year, you just can\u2019t ignore that part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n Most successful NFL quarterbacks have at least two years of college starting experience. In fact, according to ESPN\u2019s Jeff Legwold<\/a>, former Cardinals signal-caller Kyler Murray<\/a> is the only quarterback with fewer than 20 college starts to make multiple Pro Bowls.<\/p>\n Just that alone will give front offices pause before even looking into the rough back end of last season for Simpson.<\/p>\n So Who Else Should They Have on Their Radar?<\/p>\n If not Simpson, there\u2019s another quarterback who Brugler says should be on Arizona\u2019s radar.<\/p>\n Brugler believes LSU\u2019s Garrett Nussmeier \u201cwould make sense\u201d for Arizona later on in the draft.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s the type of quarterback that\u2019ll throw into games and throw you out of games,\u201d Brugler said. \u201cThat\u2019s why we\u2019re talking about him as a third- or fourth-round pick and not a first-round pick like we thought he potentially could have been over the summer. He\u2019s another guy that grew up around the game, dad is a longtime college and NFL coach.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a lot to like about his command, the way he operates and his ability to distribute the football all over the field. If you\u2019re looking for someone realistically who can start games for you, I think Garrett Nussmeier would be in that mix.\u201d<\/p>\n Brugler also offers Penn State\u2019s Drew Allar and North Dakota State\u2019s Cole Payton as developmental options in the later rounds.<\/p>\n While there are plenty of developmental options at quarterback in this draft, the Cardinals must get this right.<\/p>\n It may be in their best interest to take a quarterback early in the 2027 NFL Draft, where there is a plethora of blue-chip prospects, rather than take a mediocre one later this month.<\/p>\n But if the Arizona Cardinals do decide to go for a quarterback in the early to mid rounds this year, look for it to be Simpson or Nussmeier.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMatthew Singer<\/a> Matthew Singer is a sports reporter covering MLB for Heavy.com. He has written for Heavy since 2025, and has two years of experience covering local professional, collegiate and high school sports, including writing for Cronkite News and Arizona PBS. More about Matthew Singer<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on AZ Cardinals\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty With the Cardinals trending in the wrong direction, Michael Bidwill ultimately chose to move on from head…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":691878,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2078],"tags":[375,390,2604,1327,7,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-864220","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arizona-cardinals","8":"tag-arizona","9":"tag-arizona-cardinals","10":"tag-arizonacardinals","11":"tag-cardinals","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116387938824987620","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/864220","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=864220"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/864220\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/691878"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=864220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=864220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=864220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}