Arizona Cardinals: Carson Palmer being taken for granted?

Quarterback Carson Palmer seems to be taken for granted based on his ranking in Gregg Rosenthal’s new quarterback rankings.

Any Arizona Cardinals fan will tell you that Carson Palmer has been a blessing to the team, and is the best quarterback that the team has had since Kurt Warner led them to two division titles. Everyone else seems to think that Palmer is still the same player who wanted out of Cincinnati during the 2011 season. This sentiment also seems to be reflected in NFL.com’s recent quarterback rankings.

The top four ranked quarterbacks I agree with, it’s the bottom half of the top 10 that I disagree with. Rodgers, Roethlisberger, Luck, and Brady were ranked as the top 4 quarterbacks in the league, I agree that these four are the best quarterbacks in the league, the only change that I’d make is that I’d rank Andrew Luck as the second best quarterback as opposed to Roethlisberger.

The most shocking ranking is that of Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning, who was ranked at ten. Ahead him were the likes of Matt Ryan (5th), Phillip Rivers (6th) and Tony Romo (8th). Rosenthal’s justification for ranking Manning this low is his subpar performance in the preseason and having to adjust to Gary Kubiak’s new offense (Matt Schaub threw 29 touchdowns in this offense in 2009).

Arizona Cardinals quarterback Carson Palmer was ranked in the bottom half of quarterbacks at 17. I think this ranking of Palmer tells you just how much he is under valued by the rest of the NFL community. Not many people realize how much Palmer means to this team. Without Palmer, the Cardinals went 5-5 in the 2014 NFL season. In the last 15 games he’s played in for the Cardinals, Palmer has gone 13-2. With the team, Palmer has thrown 35 total touchdowns in two seasons, and was on pace to have 65-70 touchdowns if not for his injury.

Ranked ahead of Palmer were Ryan Tannehill (14th), Sam Bradford (16th). Ranked just behind Carson Palmer were Teddy Bridgewater and Colin Kaepernick. While these rankings are based on how well the quarterbacks are predicted to do this year, ranking Tannehill and Bradford ahead of Carson Palmer makes no sense to me. While Tannehill had an impressive year last year throwing 27 touchdowns, it’s unlikely that he will be leading the Dolphins to an AFC East division title any soon. Bradford, like Palmer, is coming of two ACL tears in the same knee, and while he has performed well this preseason, it is still uncertain as to if he will be able to lead the Philadelphia Eagles to the playoffs.

With a healthy Carson Palmer under center for all 16 games this season, many expect the Arizona Cardinals to make the playoffs and even go on to the Super Bowl. Without Palmer, the chances of the Cardinals even making the playoffs take a big hit. I personally would have ranked Carson Palmer at 11th instead of Cam Newton. The Arizona Cardinals are geared up for a Super Bowl run, and Palmer will be a big part of those plans.

While these rankings are likely to change during the coming weeks, Carson Palmer’s value to the Arizona Cardinals should not undervalued.

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