Joey Aguilar made quite an impression in his short amount of time with the Jacksonville Jaguars.

The undrafted rookie quarterback, who finished his prolific collegiate career at Tennessee in 2025, quickly became a fan favorite in Jacksonville. 

Aguilar's backstory, almost giving up his dream of playing professional football to become a firefighter, made him very easy to root for.

The rookie began the offseason as Jacksonville’s fourth-string QB behind Trevor Lawrence, Nick Mullens, and Carter Bradley. Aguilar was always a long shot to make the roster, but he immediately showed tremendous upside, making him an intriguing prospect. 

Once the preseason began, Aguilar’s talent translated from practice to the games. He was by far Jacksonville’s best quarterback over the team’s three preseason games. 

Aguilar finished the preseason an impressive 17-for-20 for 230 yards, with one touchdown and zero interceptions. His performances started to make some wonder whether he had shown enough to sneak onto the roster, especially with the struggles of Mullens and Bradley. 

Ultimately, Aguilar would not survive the final cuts. The Jaguars made a surprising trade for Quinn Ewers to be their new QB2 the day before the initial 53-man roster was finalized. Aguilar, Mullens, and Bradley were all cut. 

However, Aguilar and Mullens were both brought back to the practice squad the following day. 

The Jaguars would certainly have loved for Aguilar to continue his development with the organization, but those hopes came to an end on Tuesday, when the Arizona Cardinals poached him from the practice squad and signed him to their active roster. 

Arizona has seen its quarterback situation go up in flames recently. Jacoby Brissett, who started the team's first eight games, was demoted to third-string after Week 8 and traded to the Baltimore Ravens. He was replaced by Gardner Minshew II, who was terrific in relief of Brissett in Week 8.

Unfortunately for Arizona, Minshew suffered an injury to his UCL in Week 9 and is likely out for the season, leaving third-round rookie Carson Beck to take over as starter.

Running out of quarterbacks, the Cardinals not only signed Aguilar from Jacksonville's practice squad, but also nabbed Josh Johnson from the Cincinnati Bengals' practice squad.

The Cardinals are now the 15th NFL team Johnson has played for in his career.

Aguilar was a fan favorite in Jacksonville, and it is a shame he won't get to continue developing with the club. He is a talented young QB, and those do not grow on trees.

Hopefully, Aguilar gets a chance to show what he can do in Arizona as he has definitely earned his place on a team's active roster.