Rams’ Upcoming Opponent Trades Former Starting Qb

The Arizona Cardinals are trading Jacoby Brissett to the Baltimore Ravens, guaranteeing that he won’t be the starter when the Los Angeles Rams face them next week. The Rams lost to Brissett’s Cardinals 18-16 just 17 days ago, but now Arizona is turning to Gardner Minshew for the rest of the season with Carson Beck as the backup.

The Ravens are in need of a quarterback after losing both Lamar Jackson and Tyler Huntley to injuries in a matter of one half of football. Baltimore will start undrafted rookie Joe Fagnano on Thursday, but Brissett could be in line to start soon.

It was only October 18 when Brissett helped the Cardinals upset the Rams and send L.A.’s season from a couple of understandable losses to good teams to losing to Arizona.

Brissett struggled so badly against the Cowboys defense on Sunday that Mike LaFleur benched him for Minshew in the second half, and then Minshew led the Cardinals to an overtime win. Minshew will now be starting for his sixth career NFL team.

The Cardinals had to give Brissett a raise this season — up to $21 million — because he wanted to be paid like a starter. Predictably, the team made yet another dumb mistake at the position and expected a career backup to help them win, which has not been the case at all. They should have traded Brissett before the season if he wanted a raise.

Now the team turns to Minshew and he’s set to start against the Rams next weekend, after Arizona faces the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday. The Seahawks also made a change at QB, announcing that Sam Darnold will be ruled out with a quad injury and Drew Lock will start against Arizona.

The NFC West is changing fast.