The Baltimore Ravens are finalizing a trade with the Arizona Cardinals for veteran quarterback Jacoby Brissett, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter and NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, a move forced by one of the most brutal injury days an NFL team has ever had at the position. Neither club has announced the deal, and it is not expected to be completed until the weekend, but Cardinals head coach Mike LaFleur confirmed Wednesday that the teams are finalizing it.
How Baltimore lost two quarterbacks in one game
Lamar Jackson returned to the lineup on Sunday at Buffalo after a month out with an ankle injury, and lasted one play. On the Ravens’ first snap, the two-time MVP injured the thumb on his throwing hand. He needs surgery, is headed to injured reserve, and may not play again this season. His backup, Tyler Huntley, came in and suffered a turf toe injury that, according to the same reports, ends his season too. Baltimore lost the game 36-10, its third straight defeat, and woke up Monday with undrafted rookie Joe Fagnano atop its depth chart.
Fagnano is expected to start on Thursday night against Jacksonville, because Brissett cannot arrive in time. The trade is expected to close over the weekend, with the compensation to Arizona still to be set, days before the NFL’s November 10 trade deadline.
Why Brissett, and why now
Brissett, 33, became available almost overnight. He opened the season as Arizona’s starter, started eight games, and was benched for Gardner Minshew during Sunday’s overtime win over Dallas, then demoted to third string on Monday. His season line, 10 touchdowns against seven interceptions, is not the attraction. The attraction is that he has started 73 NFL games, can learn an offense in days, and has a direct connection on Baltimore’s staff: Ravens quarterbacks coach Israel Woolfork coached Brissett in Arizona last season. Baltimore will assume the rest of his contract, about $4.85 million in salary for the remainder of the season, according to Cards Wire.
What it says about the Ravens
At 4-4, last in the AFC North and riding a three-game losing streak, Baltimore could have folded the season and handed it to a rookie. Instead, in head coach Jesse Minter’s first year, the Ravens spent real money and a draft asset to stay alive in the race. Whether Brissett can keep them there depends on how much of the season is left by the time he takes his first snap, and on whether Jackson’s thumb heals in time for a January return. For now, the most honest description of the trade is the one the reports themselves use: finalizing, not final, and very much a team refusing to quit.
Sources: ESPN (Adam Schefter) and NFL Network (Ian Rapoport) as reported by USA Today, NBC Sports, TSN and azcentral; FOX Sports and Cards Wire, November 4, 2026. The trade had not been officially announced by either team at the time of writing.