Cardinals QB Gardner Minshew Likely Needs Season-Ending Surgery on Torn UCL; Carson Beck Up Next
Minshew is seeking more medical opinions on the throwing-elbow injury he played through in Seattle, and rookie Carson Beck is in line to start Sunday against the Rams
Arizona's quarterback carousel just took another turn. Gardner Minshew likely needs season-ending surgery on a torn UCL in his throwing elbow and is seeking additional medical opinions to confirm it, ESPN's Adam Schefter reported Monday.
Cardinals QB Gardner Minshew is seeking additional medical opinions to confirm that he likely will need season-ending surgery on a torn UCL, sources tell @joshweinfuss and me. Minshew hurt it before halftime and somehow played the second half with the injury.View on X →
Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter): Cardinals QB Gardner Minshew is seeking additional medical opinions to confirm that he likely will need season-ending surgery on a torn UCL, sources tell @joshweinfuss and me. Minshew hurt it before halftime and somehow played the second half with the injury.
Minshew got hurt on the last play of the first half of Sunday's 17-3 loss in Seattle, when Seahawks linebacker Dante Fowler Jr. hit him as he threw and forced a fumble. He was in visible pain on the ground and on the walk to the locker room, then played the entire second half anyway. He finished 21 of 30 for 166 yards with no touchdowns or interceptions.
It was his first start of the season. A week earlier, Minshew came off the bench in Dallas, went 17 of 23 for 188 yards and three touchdowns and led a 33-30 overtime comeback over the Cowboys. Coach Mike LaFleur named him the starter the next day, and Arizona then traded Jacoby Brissett to Baltimore.
That leaves rookie Carson Beck as the next man up. Beck spent the first eight weeks as the emergency third quarterback and moved to QB2 last week. LaFleur said Monday the offense won't change much if Beck takes over, because the two quarterbacks like the same things in the system.
The quarterback news landed on the same day LaFleur announced that receiver Michael Wilson is out for the season with a fractured vertebra, so a new starter would be throwing to a badly thinned receiver room.
Arizona (3-6) hosts the Rams on Sunday, Nov. 15, at 1:05 PM PT, with Beck expected to make the start.