Trey McBride is now a captain for the Arizona Cardinals. Mike LaFleur announced it at his Friday news conference, two days after the team was told on Wednesday. The spot opened when Arizona traded one of its captains, quarterback Jacoby Brissett, to the Baltimore Ravens, where he is set to start on Monday night.
LaFleur said McBride had been close in the team’s captain voting before the season. On Friday he gave two reasons for the choice. “There’s two things about him. One, every single day he puts in the work, and the guys see that,” LaFleur said. “The way that he plays on Sunday, it’s how he practices too. Maybe not as much talking, but nonetheless, he practices the right way. He practices like he wants to be the best in the world.”
The second reason was who McBride is. “He is himself. He’s not trying to be anyone that he’s not,” LaFleur said. “He loves this game. He loves that locker room, and he loves doing what he can do for this organization. He’s a stud, and he deserves that.”
The NFL’s catch leader
McBride leads the NFL with 73 catches, two more than Jaxon Smith-Njigba. He has 598 yards and five touchdowns on 93 targets in nine games, and he has caught at least seven passes in every game this season. In last Sunday’s 17-3 loss at Seattle he had seven catches for 54 yards.
He caught 111 passes for 1,146 yards in 2024 and 126 for 1,239 yards and 11 touchdowns in 2025. Arizona also gave tight end Elijah Higgins, who plays behind him, a three-year extension on Friday.
Budda Baker: “I’m glad I’m here”
Safety Budda Baker was one of the Cardinals whose name came up before Tuesday’s trade deadline, and he stayed. On Friday he said he heard it. “You know, you hear things, you hear the buzz going on, and for me it’s just controlling what I can control,” Baker said. “There is definitely part of me that thought I could be somewhere else, but after talking with the guys and talking with the office a little bit, I understood I was going to be here. I’m glad I’m here.”
He said the waiting was hard. “Definitely a certain amount of stress not knowing, but also understanding that it’s a business at the end of the day,” Baker said. He gave credit to the coaching staff and to general manager Monti Ossenfort for making it clear that “they wanted me to be here,” and said he was “excited to continue to get better, continue to be a Cardinal and continue to put my best foot forward each and every week.”
“Live by the gun, die by the gun”
McBride’s first game as a captain is also Carson Beck’s first NFL start. The rookie takes over at quarterback when the 3-6 Cardinals host the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday at 4:05 p.m. ET (23:05 Cairo). LaFleur ruled out starting center Hjalte Froholdt (concussion) and backup Jon Gaines II (ankle), so Hayden Conner will make his first career start at center.
Baker has watched Beck since he was running the scout team. “I’ve seen him making no-look throws early on, and I’ve seen him put the football in tight spaces,” Baker said. “And he’s kind of a live by the gun, die by the gun, in the sense of he’s gonna throw that ball, and that’s what you want as a quarterback.” From the defense’s side, he added, “if there’s interceptions, who cares,” because the job is the same: “We’re going to play our best, and we’re going to try to get the ball back to them.”
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