Arizona Cardinals QB Palmer Will Be Ready For Week One

Arizona Cardinals quarterback Carson Palmer is returning from a November 2014 ACL tear

I touched on Arizona Cardinals situation with quarterback Carson Palmer a couple of weeks ago and said he appeared he would be fine for the upcoming 2015 season.  Turns out now a doctor has publicly backed that up.

Abc15.com reported today that a former NFL physician, Dr. David Chao, said Palmer is ahead of younger quarterbacks in the same situation.  That also I touched on.  Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Sam Bradford tore his ACL three months before Palmer yet hasn’t reached the point in his recovery that Palmer has.

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Of course this will still keep people debating about the worthiness of continuing to go with Palmer.  Today for example, ESPN.com’s Mike Sando indicated that Palmer’s contract was amongst the worst in the NFL.  Yes he is probably overpaid and many thought that when the Cardinals gave Palmer his new $50 million contract two days before re-tearing his ACL.

Palmer has worked hard to get back to his current point of participating in 11 on 11 drills in OTA’s.  To even be on the field just seven  months removed from the injury is amazing at his age.  He’s 35, will turn 36 at the end of the 2015 season.

To me the contract is worth it.  Overpaid?  Probably.  Worth it?  Definitely.  He is the best the Cardinals have had to offer at the position since Kurt Warner and was 6-0 in his six starts in 2014.  I’m sorry, I’ve said it time and time again.  I don’t care how you got there, 6-0 is 6-0 and you can’t be better than 6-0 in six games.

Not that today’s validation from the doctor needed to come because we knew Palmer was going to return by the time the season came around but it is nice to have that validation to hopefully help erase skeptics from a health standpoint.  The Cardinals will be careful with him.  Tomorrow starts mandatory mini-camp and then the next time Palmer and the Cardinals take the field will be at the end of July for training camp.

This should lead to a week one start for Palmer.  That is of course as long as Palmer is used wisely and avoids re-injury in the preseason.