Cardinals

coordinators? So he has some knowledge of football, having learned all those things. It’s just fitting into the system.” That, and finding consistency. Whether he can find it on a one-year contract seems doubtful. And how he can impress enough to warrant an extension while serving as the team’s No. 3 quarterback – which is what he will be until at least the start of training camp, according to Arians – seems just as unrealistic.

But imagine if the 6-foot-4 Gabbert ever did have any consistency. Just the thought of that made him start to smile.

“Consistency is huge in any profession, whether it’s football, baseball, basketball or a job in the real world,” he said. “When you have a consistent surrounding cast, a consistent coaching staff, that’s going to kind of breed throughout the organization. So I just haven’t been fortunate enough to have that. But I’m always looking for it and that’s what they have here. They have a consistent staff and B.A. has done a great job building this team.”

As for confidence, Gabbert said he’s never lacked any of it. But it’s hard to get any of that without any consistency, either. Sometimes, it just takes the right fit, says Palmer, who adds that he’s looking forward to working with Gabbert.

If they all help each other along – Palmer, Stanton, Gabbert and the other two quarterbacks on the roster, Zac Dysert and undrafted rookie free agent Trevor Knight – maybe the position will be in good hands.

“We’re all in this locker room for a reason,” Gabbert said. “We’re all football players. We’re all entirely motivated and entirely driven and that’s what pushes us – to chase success, to chase greatness.”

Learning his seventh system in seven years might sound unreasonable, but it’s nothing new for Arizona’s newest signal caller. Besides, Gabbert already digested the brunt of Arians’ complicated playbook and now it’s just a matter of getting the additional reps to make it feel second-nature.

Gabbert will get plenty of reps this week during the Cardinals’ second round of workouts and practices at organized team activities.

“The more reps you get, the easier it becomes,” he said. “The beautiful thing about football is that there’s only so many concepts you can run. It’s really just the verbiage. As long as you paint the picture in your head, and learn the new verbiage, you’ll be all right.”

Gabbert isn’t looking ahead. He said that for now, he’s only “competing against myself” and that he has no designs on trying to leapfrog Stanton or view himself as Palmer’s eventual successor. That will all get sorted out much, much later.

In the meantime, he’s borrowing a page from Cardinals safety Tyrann Mathieu and trying to tune out all the noise.

“Everybody’s going to have their opinion,” Gabbert said, “but at the end of the day, I’m accountable to the guys in this locker room, the coaching staff and the guys upstairs (in the front office).”