TEMPE — Arizona Cardinals head coach Mike LaFleur hasn’t needed to say much when it comes to rookie quarterback Carson Beck’s role.
Across the past few weeks, it’s been much of the same with Beck remaining inactive on game days as the emergency option and third-string signal caller.
“Nothing’s changed” as LaFleur has put it on multiple occasions.
That was until Monday when LaFleur declined to specify Beck’s role while providing a health update ahead of Arizona’s Week 8 prep for the Dallas Cowboys.
“Not going to talk about role changes right now,” LaFleur said Monday. “He’s going to do a workout tomorrow on our off day just kind of moving in the pocket and stuff like that to see where he is in terms of rep structure starting Wednesday, Thursday, Friday.”
It would have been very easy for LaFleur to keep the status quo, especially after Beck dealt with back spasms the past week to the point where he left practice.
Could there actually be a change on the way?
If that’s indeed the case, having Beck active on game day would be a logical move.
Even if LaFleur isn’t ready to name Beck the starter, the rookie at the very least has opportunity to get some live game reps if things get out of hand like they did in the Cardinals’ loss to the Detroit Lions.
Either way, the window of evaluating Beck is beginning to slowly close for the Cardinals. If he doesn’t see the field this week against Dallas, that leaves nine games on the schedule to get him in the mix.
LaFleur on Monday wasn’t ready to make a quarterback change, citing Jacoby Brissett’s ability to move the football despite recent red zone issues.
But at some point soon, LaFleur is going to have to look more to the future and see what he has in the rookie signal caller.