The Baltimore Ravens are reportedly finalizing a trade to acquire veteran quarterback Jacoby Brissett from the Arizona Cardinals, but the move will not solve their most immediate problem.
According to NFL.com and the Ravens’ official website, the deal is expected to be completed over the weekend. Terms have not been disclosed, and neither team had formally announced the transaction as complete as of Thursday.
That timetable leaves undrafted rookie Joe Fagnano in line to make his first NFL start against the Jacksonville Jaguars on Thursday night. If the trade proceeds as reported, Brissett is expected to become available for Baltimore’s Week 10 game against the Los Angeles Chargers.
The distinction matters. Brissett is not arriving as an emergency answer for Week 9. He is being positioned as an experienced bridge for a 4-4 team that has lost its top two quarterbacks and still has nine regular-season games remaining.
Injuries Leave Baltimore With Few Alternatives
Baltimore’s quarterback situation deteriorated during its 36-10 loss to Buffalo in Week 8.
Lamar Jackson injured his right thumb on the Ravens’ first offensive series. Head coach Jesse Minter subsequently announced that Jackson would undergo surgery and be placed on injured reserve. The designation requires Jackson to miss at least four games, although the team has not established a public timetable for his return.
Jackson had already missed the previous three games with an ankle injury. In five appearances this season, he completed 68 of 97 passes for 967 yards, six touchdowns and one interception. His 70.1% completion rate and 118.4 passer rating are confirmed by the Ravens’ official statistics.
Backup Tyler Huntley then suffered a turf toe injury against Buffalo. Tests showed that the injury would end his season, NFL.com reported. Huntley had provided useful cover during Jackson’s earlier absence, completing 76 of 110 attempts for 727 yards, four touchdowns and one interception. He posted a 95.5 passer rating in five games, including three starts.
Those injuries pushed Fagnano into his NFL debut against Buffalo. He completed 10 of 21 passes for 91 yards and an interception after replacing Huntley.
Fagnano has also been managing an ankle injury, but he progressed to full practice participation and received no game-status designation on Baltimore’s injury report. The Ravens therefore plan to start him against Jacksonville, with recently promoted Kedon Slovis serving as another option.
Baltimore needed more than a one-game contingency plan, however. With Jackson unavailable for at least four games and Huntley out for the year, acquiring a quarterback with substantial starting experience became a practical necessity.
What Brissett Can Offer
Brissett, 33, has made 73 NFL starts during an 11-year career. He started Arizona’s first eight games this season before being benched during a comeback victory over the Dallas Cowboys.
Cardinals coach Mike LaFleur subsequently moved Brissett behind Gardner Minshew and rookie Carson Beck on the depth chart, creating a logical opportunity for Arizona to trade him.
Brissett completed 193 of 305 passes for 1,719 yards, 10 touchdowns and seven interceptions in those eight games. His 63.3% completion rate and 79.7 passer rating are accurate, but another number helps explain why Arizona was prepared to change quarterbacks: He averaged only 5.6 yards per attempt.
His final appearance for the Cardinals was especially difficult. Brissett went 10-of-23 for 119 yards and an interception before Minshew replaced him against Dallas.
Those figures establish reasonable limits for Baltimore’s expectations. Brissett cannot reproduce Jackson’s rushing threat, improvisational ability or downfield efficiency. His current-season production also does not suggest that he will independently transform the Ravens’ offense.
His value is experience, availability and familiarity with members of Baltimore’s staff. Brissett previously worked with Ravens quarterbacks coach Israel Woolfolk in Arizona and Cleveland, which could help him absorb the offense more quickly than another veteran arriving during the season.
Brissett’s record as a starter is 23-50, but quarterback wins offer an incomplete measure of individual performance because they incorporate the quality of the entire team. His ball security provides a more useful indicator of the role he could fill.
Brissett has thrown 39 interceptions on 2,551 regular-season attempts, an interception rate of approximately 1.5%. That is an unusually low career figure. The original draft described it as the second-lowest rate in NFL history, but the cited comparison is narrower: Pro Football Focus ranked it second among quarterbacks since 2000 with at least 2,500 attempts.
For Baltimore, that skill has clear value. A quarterback who limits turnovers can give the Ravens an opportunity to lean on their running game and defense while navigating Jackson’s absence.
Recent Results Show Both Potential and Risk
Brissett is coming off his most productive NFL season. In 2025, he appeared in 14 games and made 12 starts for Arizona, completing 315 of 485 passes for a career-high 3,366 yards and 23 touchdowns against eight interceptions. He finished with a 94.1 passer rating.
His performance declined over the first half of 2026. Brissett’s touchdown rate fell, his yards per attempt dropped, and Arizona ultimately chose Minshew to lead the offense.
Baltimore is therefore acquiring a proven starter rather than a guaranteed upgrade. The trade would raise the floor of an injury-depleted quarterback room, but Brissett’s recent form makes it difficult to project how high that floor will be.
The Ravens also cannot afford to treat his arrival as a complete solution. They have lost three consecutive games and sit last in the AFC North and 10th in the conference. Their offense will need to adjust to a quarterback who plays differently from Jackson, while the running game, offensive line and defense will carry greater responsibility.
A Move for Week 10 and Beyond
The reported deal is best understood as a bridge through uncertainty rather than a rescue operation.
Fagnano must first guide the offense against Jacksonville. Brissett would then have only a few practices before a likely debut against the Chargers, making his familiarity with Woolfolk particularly relevant.
Jackson’s recovery remains the most important variable in Baltimore’s season. His injured-reserve placement guarantees a significant absence, but reports differ on whether the thumb injury will keep him out for the remainder of the year. Until the Ravens provide a definitive recovery timeline, a season-ending prognosis should not be presented as established fact.
Brissett gives Baltimore an experienced option while that uncertainty continues. He has demonstrated that he can protect the football and manage an NFL offense, but his 2026 performance also shows why the Cardinals were willing to move on.
For a .500 team with both its starter and primary backup unavailable, that combination of experience and limitations is the reality of the in-season quarterback market. The reported trade does not restore the offense Baltimore designed around Jackson. It gives the Ravens a credible way to keep playing while they wait to learn whether he can return.
