ARIZONA — The Carson Beck era is officially here, whether the Arizona Cardinals like it or not.

After trading Jacoby Brissett and losing Gardner Minshew to a reported UCL injury, the third-round rookie is all but set to enter action for the second half of Arizona's season.

Three honest thoughts as we begin:

Cardinals Made Mistake Not Signing QB Last Week

Hindsight will forever be 20/20, but after trading Brissett the Cardinals had just two quarterbacks on their roster in Minshew/Beck. Yours truly asked Mike LaFleur if the team would be adding a third quarterback, and a "we'll see" was a response.

As fate would have it, the Cardinals were dwindled down to just Beck for a short time on Monday before reportedly signing Josh Johnson — who is 40 years old.

Arizona probably regrets not bringing in a third quarterback last week, who would have been added to the practice squad and would at least have a week's head start on Johnson in terms of learning LaFleur's playbook.

Kedon Slovis would have been the perfect player to add, though the Ravens signed him early last week to their active roster. Johnson does have some prior connections to LaFleur and current offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett, though he doesn't have the first-hand experience Slovis did in Arizona.

The move to sign a third (and emergency) quarterback wouldn't have changed Sunday's outcome or Arizona's trajectory moving forward, though they are indeed less prepared at football's most important position as a result.

You Can't Overreact to Carson Beck's Performance vs Rams

The Cardinals' rookie passer has virtually no weapons outside of Trey McBride, a vastly depleted offensive line ahead of him and will face a Rams defense that just saw Myles Garrett return to the tune of three sacks, finally giving Los Angeles the coveted 1-2 punch they've been waiting for with Aaron Donald.

Simply put, Beck is set up for failure against the Los Angeles Rams this week. And to make matters worse, no home cooking will ensure – State Farm Stadium is set to host plenty of Rams fans on Sunday. This will likely be the first time he's ever faced serious crowd noise against him while playing a home game.

Naturally, fans will jump at the first opportunity to overreact from one game. If Beck plays poorly like anticipated — even if not entirely due to his own performance — a good portion of Cardinals fans will be eager to immediately write him off.

Context is key against the Rams' defense, but so is patience. Regardless of how you slice it, this will be Beck's first taste of NFL action since the very first preseason game. He's essentially being asked to win a gun fight with a rubber knife.

Beck's career, outlook and trajectory will not be defined by his first 60 minutes of football, and it's important to remember that.

Carson Beck's Evaluation Was Always Going to be Tough

With the above stated, the Cardinals now enter the Beck era. How long that lasts entirely depends on the second half of the season, and while it will be incredibly hard to judge Beck given the current circumstances around the team, every snap he takes regardless of who is out there will weigh heavily on Arizona's decision to pursue a quarterback in the 2027 offseason.

That's simply the nature of the beast, even an unfortunate one. But the reality is Beck was never going to have ample time or resources available to him to make the best impression as a third-round pick. However, the Cardinals have been gathering information on Beck behind the scenes since the moment he landed in the building.

Fairly or unfairly, everything Beck does from now until the end of the season carries massive weight to decide his — and Arizona's — future.