Carson Beck completed 15 of 19 passes for 188 yards and a touchdown in the Hall of Fame Game on Thursday night, finishing with a 125.4 passer rating in Arizona's 33-30 loss to Carolina. It was one preseason start, against a Panthers roster full of players who will not survive final cuts, and nobody inside the Cardinals building is going to get too ahead of themselves.
Cardinals rookie QB Carson Beck finished his NFL preseason debut completing 15-of-19 passes for 188 yards and one touchdown. pic.twitter.com/2KyH0l1Zz1
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) August 7, 2026
But if you were watching from Coral Gables, the box score pointed to something larger than a third-round rookie logging impressive professional snaps. It was another line on a resume that is starting to look like a head coaching candidacy for Shannon Dawson.
Shannon Dawson's resume is building
Dawson was hired in February 2023 and pulled Miami's offense from 85th in total offense to 25th in a single season.
In 2024 he had Cam Ward, who threw for 4,313 yards and 39 touchdowns, finished as a Heisman finalist, and went No. 1 overall to Tennessee. That Miami team led the nation in both total offense and scoring offense.
Then Dawson replaced a No. 1 overall pick with a quarterback coming off an elbow injury that cost him all of spring practice. That QB was obviously Beck and, with the help of Dawson, ended up reviving his career. For Miami in 2025 he threw for 3,813 yards and 30 touchdowns, led the ACC in both completions and completion percentage, and Miami played for a national championship. Arizona then took him in the third round.
Now Dawson has his eyes set on making Darian Mensah a high NFL draft pick. Mensah threw for 3,973 yards and 34 touchdowns at Duke last season.
The blueprint coach movement that Dawson could be on
The history of college assistants riding quarterback development into major jobs is the path that Dawson could be on.
Buffalo Bills HC Joe Brady
Joe Brady spent one season at LSU as passing game coordinator and wide receivers coach. Under his coaching, Joe Burrow threw for 5,671 yards and 60 touchdowns, won the Heisman, and LSU went 15-0. Brady won the Broyles Award as the top assistant in the country, and within 24 hours of the national championship game he had agreed to become the Carolina Panthers' offensive coordinator at age 30, the youngest in the NFL.
Carolina did not work out, but he reset in Buffalo as quarterbacks coach in 2022, took over play-calling midway through 2023, ran the offense full time in 2024 and 2025, and in January he was promoted to head coach on a five-year deal.
Texas Longhorns HC Steve Sarkisian
Steve Sarkisian spent two seasons as Alabama's offensive coordinator, working with Tua Tagovailoa and then Mac Jones. Texas hired him as head coach on Jan. 2, 2021, nine days before he coached Alabama in the national championship game.
Los Angeles Rams Assistant HC Kliff Kingsbury
Kliff Kingsbury was fired at Texas Tech in Nov. 2018 with a 35-40 head coaching record, took the USC offensive coordinator job in December of that year, but then resigned to look at NFL opportunities. He was eventually named head coach of the Arizona Cardinals on Jan. 8, 2019.
He had never won consistently as a head coach, but what he had was Patrick Mahomes, Baker Mayfield, Case Keenum and Johnny Manziel on his coaching ledger, and that was enough.
Reasons to pump the brakes
Beck has played one half of one preseason game and Ward was already one of the better QBs when he came to Coral Gables. Dawson will still need this season to solidify his candidacy for HC jobs/NFL OC jobs.
Miami also extended Dawson to a multi-year deal in April. That won't stop him from leaving, but it needed to be mentioned.
If Mensah plays well and if Beck holds up whenever Arizona gives him meaningful snaps, Dawson will become a major candidate for HC jobs in January.
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