Quarterback news keeps rolling in around the NFL, and this time the Baltimore Ravens are the team making a move. Baltimore traded with the Arizona Cardinals to acquire quarterback Jacoby Brissett, adding a veteran arm to a position group that injuries have hit hard.

Quarterback Lamar Jackson is expected to be out for the year after injuring his hand on his first snap back from an ankle injury. Tyler “Snoop” Huntley then came in and dealt with a bad case of turf toe, and he is now expected to miss the rest of the season as well. So the Ravens picked up the phone and called Arizona.

Let’s run through the deal and grade it as best we can. One caveat up front: we don’t know exactly what Baltimore gave up.

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How Jacoby Brissett ended up in Baltimore

First, some context, because Brissett’s last few months have been a wild ride. Ari Meirov laid it all out in a recent post:

For one, Brissett doesn’t have an agent. He was the default starter in Arizona heading into the offseason, held in at Cardinals training camp, and negotiated his own reworked deal worth $15 million guaranteed and up to $21 million. That’s not something you see every day in this league.

He went on to start eight games for the Cardinals before Arizona benched him for Gardner Minshew. Minshew came in and lit it up, leading the Cardinals to a big win over the Dallas Cowboys. Shortly after that, Brissett was shipped off to Baltimore.

Frankly, this is the Ravens trying to find a warm body to stabilize their quarterback situation. Brissett is a steady veteran who has started games in this league, and that’s exactly what Baltimore needs right now.

What the A to Z Sports trade simulator says

Since the terms of the deal haven’t been made clear, let’s work with a reasonable assumption. Say the Cardinals traded Brissett to Baltimore for a 2028 seventh-round pick.

I’m going to be honest with you: that’s pennies on the dollar. A seventh-round pick that far out is a bag of peanuts in the NFL, and if we’re being real about it, it’s basically worthless.

Still, when you run that deal through the A to Z Sports NFL trade simulator, which uses historical values, it comes out as a fair trade. Arizona moves on from a quarterback it already benched, and the Ravens get a capable body without touching their meaningful draft capital.

That’s the key part for me. Baltimore isn’t mortgaging its future for a short-term fix, and it isn’t pretending Brissett is the long-term answer either.

Why this is a smart move for the Ravens

If a late-round pick really does turn out to be all the Ravens gave up for Brissett, then I think it’s a great move. I grade it out as a B+.

The bottom line is that while the season isn’t completely over, the quarterback situation in Baltimore essentially makes it so. Losing your MVP-caliber starter and your backup in short order is about as tough a blow as a team can take, and there aren’t many answers on the open market this deep into the season.

Maybe Brissett comes in, reignites this offense, and the Ravens make a run to the playoffs. He’s proven he can manage a game and keep an offense on schedule, and Baltimore still has talent around the quarterback position.

Either way, Baltimore probably didn’t spend a lot of capital to find out. Low risk, potential reward, and at least the Ravens are trying to salvage something from a season that has gone sideways.