Cardinals rookie QB Carson Beck impresses as he gets first NFL snaps in Hall of Fame Game

At some point this season, the Arizona Cardinals seem likely to get rookie Carson Beck some starts. They gave him one on Thursday to start that process.

And if the rest of the preseason goes as well as Thursday did, the push to get the rookie some regular-season starts might happen earlier than expected.

Beck, a third-round pick who was a college star at Georgia and Miami, started for the Cardinals against the Carolina Panthers as the NFL got the preseason started with the Hall of Fame Game in Canton, Ohio. Beck looked good.

He looked quite comfortable as he took the Cardinals on a 96-yard touchdown drive to end the first quarter. The Cardinals were backed up near their own end zone when Beck made a big play. Receiver Jalen Brooks made a nice double move and Beck hit him downfield for a 35-yard gain. Later in the drive he had a nice pass to Brooks over the middle, delivering an accurate throw despite tight coverage for 15 yards. Beck completed a pass to the 1-yard line and then running back Corey Kiner scored the first unofficial touchdown of the NFL season to start the second quarter.

Beck finished the first quarter 8 of 9 for 81 yards. On Beck's first pass of the second quarter, he threw deep to Brooks, who hauled it in for 49 yards. Beck wasn't nervous about pushing the ball downfield, which is a good sign. Then Beck threw a nice fade route for a third-and-goal touchdown to Simi Fehoko.

Beck was playing with and against plenty of players who won't make 53-man rosters, but it was still a promising first game. He was 11 of 14 for 148 yards in the first half. Given how it was the only game of the week after a long offseason, there will surely be plenty of overreaction over Beck's strong performance.

The Cardinals have veterans Jacoby Brissett and Gardner Minshew II on the roster. Brissett will likely begin the season as the starter, but Arizona has a tough early schedule, and at some point the team might want to get a look at Beck. If Arizona finishes with one of the NFL's worst records, as it did last season, the Cardinals will want to know what they have in Beck before entering a 2027 NFL Draft that is deep at quarterback.

AP Photo/David Richard

Arizona is already invested in Beck. Beck was the 65th overall pick, the first selection of the third round — a valuable pick for a Cardinals team that is in the middle of a rebuild. Clearly Arizona wanted to take a shot on Beck, who helped Georgia and then Miami win a lot of games. He was a productive college quarterback but also had UCL surgery on his elbow during his college career. He threw 12 interceptions in each of his last two seasons, and there were reports before the draft that his personality rubbed teams the wrong way. That's why he slid to the third round, though he did lead off the round.

The Cardinals still have three more preseason games and they'll keep getting Beck reps in preseason games. The first look at him on an NFL field was clearly a positive.