Josh Weinfuss, ESPN Staff Writer 6y

Playing Blaine Gabbert on Sunday could settle Cardinals' QB situation

TEMPE, Ariz. -- If the season ended today, the Arizona Cardinals would have either the 13th or 14th pick of the 2018 NFL draft, high enough to get a franchise-changing player yet possibly too low to find their quarterback of the future.

Mock drafts this time of year border on the edge of useless. Will USC's Sam Darnold come out early? Will UCLA's Josh Rosen? It's too early to know, and way too early to project who goes where and be absolutely right.

Which makes Blaine Gabbert's performance, whenever that will come, all the more important. And it should come Sunday.

Coach Bruce Arians has already said this season that he likes to stick with the succession plan as it stands: Drew Stanton replaces Carson Palmer, Gabbert replaces Stanton. But, as Stanton continues to recover from a sprained knee suffered Thursday night, according to ESPN NFL Insider Chris Mortensen, Gabbert will start if Stanton can't play.

The Cardinals' plan was to evaluate Stanton in the early days of this week and then make a decision. Even though Stanton is 7-3 as a starter in Arizona, the Cardinals should just rest him this week and go straight to Gabbert for two primary reasons.

The first is the Cardinals need to see what Gabbert has. He's been highly touted throughout the organization since he was signed in May, praised for both his skillset and his intellect. In order for Arizona to evaluate Gabbert as a starter for the long term, he needs to, well, actually play. And is there a better situation than this weekend? The Houston Texans are 3-6. The Cardinals are coming off a long weekend after losing to Seattle on Thursday night. Gabbert has been active for the past two games. Everything appears to be working in Gabbert's favor.

So why not give him a shot now?

He'll be surrounded by some of, if not the best offensive talent he's played with, especially in running back Adrian Peterson and wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald. He's playing for possibly the best offensive mind of his career in Arians.

At some point the Cardinals need to get serious about their quarterback future. Palmer will be 38 after this season. Stanton is 33 and will be a free agent. Gabbert is 28, right in the thick of his football prime. He just needs a shot to show what he has -- whatever that may be. Gabbert may be what his 9-31 career record says he is. Or he may be a quarterback who wasn't in the right situation and can live up to the potential of a former first-round pick. If it's the latter, the Cardinals can save themselves a draft pick and start building for the future now.

There's only one way to find out.

However, giving Gabbert the ball Sunday gives the Cardinals an out, if necessary. Should Gabbert struggle in Houston, Arizona has a built-in excuse to go back to Stanton, if he's healthy after Thanksgiving: Their starter is back.

They don't need to discredit Gabbert. They can just quietly give the ball back to Stanton and decide to move on from Gabbert in the offseason, when he's a free agent, ending the experiment.

But there's only one way to know: Gabbert needs to play Sunday.

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