Arizona Cardinals: Why Carson Palmer will win MVP

The Arizona Cardinals get their starting signal caller back for the 2015 season

Before you think I took some illegal drugs or something along those lines, hear me out.  Arizona Cardinals quarterback Carson Palmer will win the 2015 NFL MVP.  By now I’m sure you’ve spit your cereal or oatmeal out.  Hopefully it wasn’t onto your Carson Palmer jersey.

Carson Palmer is making his return to the NFL after tearing his ACL, for the second time, last season against the St. Louis Rams in November.  It was just his sixth start in 2014 and it was his last.

If there was ever a time a team showed just how valuable a quarterback was to the success of his team, the Arizona Cardinals were the picture perfect example of that in 2014.  Sure, Drew Stanton went 5-3 in relief but he struggled at times down the stretch before his own injury sidelined him for weeks 16, 17 and the playoffs.

Of course we know what happened in those three horrendous weeks for the Cardinals.  They lost their last two regular season games to division rivals Seattle Seahawks and San Francisco 49ers and then the NFC Wild-Card Playoff game at the Carolina Panthers with Ryan Lindley at the helm.

Palmer went 6-0 in his starts in 2014.  This was after finishing the 2013 season 7-3 in his last 10 games, making him 13-3 over a full regular season 16-game span.  He got off to a rocky start in Arizona in 2013 but that was because he hadn’t yet gotten use to Cardinals head coach Bruce Arians’ offensive system yet.  All of a sudden, it clicked.

Palmer played in week one in 2014 against the San Diego Chargers and led a second-half comeback that put the Cardinals and 1-0 and off running.  It was revealed in the days after he had am injured shoulder and Palmer and the Cardinals didn’t have a clue how to fix it other than rest it.

Huge truth right there.  The Cardinals were in this mode last season.  Palmer certainly had the cast of characters to help him succeed.  Palmer went on to start five more times in 2015, winning all six games.  Sure, he had help from his offensive buddies and the Cardinals defense at times but every successful quarterback in the NFL hasn’t done it all himself.

Now we fast forward to 2015.  Palmer, who originally was thought would be out all the way until training camp and even then they would have training wheels on that bus.  However when OTA’s came around, Palmer was ready to get back on to the field.

Palmer took it easy but then by the end of OTA’s and then into mini-camp in June, Palmer was ready for full practice.  He was ahead of schedule thanks to his hard work and dedication to his rehab.  He was 100 percent as he entered training camp.

The first few hits he took in camp it was not surprising to see Cardinals fans gasp and hold their breath but each time he got up.  Even the defensive players were cognizant of it all and held their breath everytime they touched him early on.  Now, it was time for preseason games.

Next: Making the case for Palmer