Drew Stanton has an 85 percent chance of starting at quarterback for the Cardinals in the playoffs.
That's the number that head coach Bruce Arians gave to SiriusXM NFL radio in an interview on Tuesday night, adding that he would not play Stanton this weekend against the 49ers unless there was an emergency.
"He's going to practice some this week, and we'll see how he goes," Arians said, via ESPN.com. "Do not plan on playing him this week unless it was absolutely necessary."
Arians has been transparent and resourceful during his time without Stanton or Carson Palmer this year. With one game left in the regular season, he'd rather start rookie Logan Thomas over Ryan Lindley in order to see what he's capable of in the event that Stanton goes down again.
"You got to turn over every stone going into the playoffs," Arians said. "It doesn't have anything to do with how Ryan played last week. I need to find out what Logan can do going into the playoffs."
Unless Thomas plays well, though, Arians probably knows that Stanton is his best chance to survive the Cardinals' first playoff appearance since 2009.
The latest Around The NFL Podcast previews the biggest matchups in Week 17 and makes its picks for the last week of the season. Find more Around The NFL content on NFL NOW.
