Blaine Gabbert has shown in two starts that he needed to have the right combination of talent and coaching around him to flourish. He’s scheduled to be an unrestricted free agent after this season, which should force the Cardinals’ hand at making him their answer at quarterback by signing him to a long-term deal. They can still draft a quarterback, but spending a first-round pick on one may not be entirely necessary.

Related players: Drew Stanton, Carson Palmer

This is just one opinion, but there had been a lot who cover the league feeling Gabbert should have been given a chance once Palmer went down. Now that he's had his chance, he certainly seems to be delivering and should at least be the team's starting quarterback for the rest of the season.

Arians: Blaine Gabbert will start again this week. Stick with him until Drew Stanton totally healthy.

Gabbert had a real nice game in Week 11 despite a loss. While Arians said Stanton gave the team the best chance to win, there seemed to be a push by fans and media to start Gabbert and see if there is any potential. The Cards host the Jags in a later afternoon game in Week 12.

With Drew Stanton nursing a knee injury, the Cardinals will turn to Blaine Gabbert at quarterback this week versus the Houston Texans. Gabbert joins Bills QB Nathan Peterman as quarterbacks making their starting season debut this week—bringing the number of different quarterbacks to start a game this season to 47.

The good news for fantasy owners is that Gabbert gets to start his season with the third-best possible matchup for QBs against the Texans, according to our aFPA metric. The Texans are allowing 20.1 fantasy points per game (third-most), 269.2 passing yards per game (sixth-most), and 2.1 passing TDs per game (tied for second-most) to the quarterback position. The Texans have also allowed three different QBs to rush for at least 30 yards against them—a feat Gabbert achieved twice in five starts last season.

If you play in a fantasy league that requires you to start only one quarterback you probably have no use for Gabbert, despite the tasty matchup; however, if you play in a two-quarterback or superflex league, Gabbert could make for an ideal QB2 streamer this week.

Cardinals quarterback Drew Stanton practiced Tuesday, though Blaine Gabbert also took some reps with the starters, Bruce Arians said via Darren Urban of the team website.

Arians said Stanton, who has a sprained knee, will have “to show he can stay out of harm’s way” to make his third start of the season.

The Cardinals aren’t ruling out Stanton, though.

“Drew is extremely tough,” General Manager Steve Keim said on Arizona Sports 98.7. “He’s the type of guy I would not bet against.”

The Cardinals signed Matt Barkley in case Stanton can’t go.

We had a story earlier today from ESPN that indicated the Cards should just play Gabbert as he has more of a chance to be a factor in the team's future at the position. The Cards feel Stanton gives them the best chance to win but at 4-5 it's going to be a tough climb.

Even though Drew Stanton (knee) is 7-3 as a starter in Arizona, the Cardinals should just rest him this week and go straight to Blaine 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 in the NFL 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 last two games. Everything appears to be working in Gabbert's favor.

The story said at some point the team needs to figure out the QB situation. If the season ended today they would be around the middle of the pack in the draft order, and likely too far down to draft a franchise QB. 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 and this could end up being a good situation for him, the story thinks.