Skip to content Carson Beck will walk into his first NFL start staring directly at two defensive wrecking balls boasting over 200 combined sacks. Gardner Minshew’s season-ending injury shoved the rookie into the Arizona Cardinals’ huddle for Week 10 against the Los Angeles Rams. It hands the young passer one of the harshest welcomes any rookie quarterback has faced in league history.
Arizona sits at 3-6, fighting to salvage their season while cycling through their third starting quarterback in ten weeks. Beck now becomes the fifth quarterback ever to make his first career start against two defenders with at least 100 sacks each in Aaron Donald and Myles Garrett. For an offense already missing its top three wide receivers, Sunday afternoon in Inglewood represents an immediate trial by fire.
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What Carson Beck faces against Donald and Garrett
Most young quarterbacks ease into the league against rebuilding defenses or rotational fronts. Instead, Carson Beck draws a Los Angeles Rams front featuring two future Hall of Fame disruptors hunting together on third down. Donald and Garrett present problems that even ten-year veterans struggle to solve over four quarters.
Cardinals coach Mike LaFleur chose humor when reporters asked him about the daunting defensive front waiting for his rookie. “Who do they got?” LaFleur joked before explaining how he wants his new starter to approach the moment.
“I got no expectations for him except to go out and play his game one play at a time. Go let it rip, go have some fun. Have some fun with your guys.”
Beck showed flashes of that fearless style during August action. In the 2026 preseason opener against the Carolina Panthers, he completed 15 of 19 passes for 188 yards and a touchdown. Sunday, however, brings live defensive schemes and real pass rush speed.
How Carson Beck climbed from emergency passer to QB1
The rise of Carson Beck inside the Arizona facility happened at dizzying speed. Jacoby Brissett opened September as the starter, lost the job, and ended up traded to the Baltimore Ravens. Minshew stepped in to run the offense, moving Beck from emergency third-string passer to the primary backup.
Then Minshew went down for the year, leaving the rookie holding the keys. Beck is the third quarterback picked outside the first two rounds to start an NFL game this year, joining Tampa Bay’s Jalon Daniels and Baltimore’s Joe Fagnano. That has not happened across the league in a single season since 1987.
“Obviously, having gone from the emergency quarterback at the beginning of the season to last week being the backup to now being the starter, it’s been a crazy season,” Beck said. “It’s really been a welcome to the NFL season, just getting introduced to what the league is and what it can be, but I’m super excited for the opportunity and to have the chance to go play with these guys.”
Beck spent those early months taking mental notes on how Brissett and Minshew handled the pressure. He paid close attention to their work during morning walkthroughs and sideline adjustments on game days.
“I think the biggest thing is just watching those two and how they carry themselves and how they handle themselves not only in the meeting room around the coaches, but during the walkthrough, during practice, and during the game,” Beck explained. “I think that’s the biggest thing that you can learn from those guys, of everybody’s looking at you as a quarterback, and your attitude has to be right each and every day.”
Why the depleted receiver room tests Carson Beck
The pocket will collapse quickly, and Beck will look out at a huddle missing familiar playmakers. Michael Wilson is done for the season with a neck injury, and Kendrick Bourne is out with a fractured tibia. The front office also shipped Marvin Harrison Jr. to the Houston Texans earlier this fall.
Those departures leave fifth-round rookie Reggie Virgil, undrafted veteran Simi Fehoko, and Pro Bowl return specialist Devin Duvernay as the projected starting wideouts. That group must create separation quickly against a Rams secondary eager to crowd short passing lanes. Beck cannot afford hesitant reads or second-guessing his protection calls at the line of scrimmage.
His mindset remains simple despite the thin depth chart on the perimeter. Beck explained this week that he views self-belief as a deliberate decision rather than a feeling that comes and goes.
“When you can choose that, again, you just have to go out there and execute,” Beck said. “You have to go out there and do your thing and you have to go out there and be confident, have swag, and have moxie. Regardless of the circumstances, regardless of anything going on around you, regardless of maybe what happened the play before or maybe thinking about what’s going to happen the next play. You have to be in the present moment and that’s really all you can do and control.”
The Trey McBride safety net for the Cardinals offense
Fortunately for the rookie, Arizona still owns one of the most reliable pass-catching weapons in football. Tight end Trey McBride earned first-team All-Pro honors in 2025 and currently sits atop the NFL with 73 catches through nine weeks. He enters Sunday riding an astonishing streak of 11 consecutive games with at least seven receptions.
Beck already knows how to run an offense through an elite tight end after spending his college years at Georgia targeting Brock Bowers. Feeding McBride on quick slants, option routes, and seam balls gives Arizona its cleanest path to moving the chains. If Donald and Garrett crash the pocket, McBride offers the safety valve Beck desperately needs.
LaFleur watched his rookie operate during offseason workouts and training camp before a minor injury briefly paused his work. The staff saw enough composure during those reps to trust him when Minshew limped off.
“You never really know until you get to the live bullets on Sunday, but just the way he goes about his business, whether it’s been from OTAs through training camp before he got hurt, seeing him operate in that first half,” LaFleur said. “Plus, the one possession there in the second half, so obviously we’ll know more come next Sunday, but we have all the confidence he’s ready to roll.”
Kickoff between the Cardinals and Rams is set for Sunday at SoFi Stadium, where Beck will take his first snap against Los Angeles.
Source: CBS Sports
