1. Carson Palmer
That leaves us with Palmer. We all saw just how vital to the Cardinals success Palmer was over the last couple of seasons. In 2014 he was 6-0 in the six games he was able to start. The Cards went just 5-5 in the 10 games he didn’t play in.
After having an MVP-like season with 35 touchdowns and just 11 interceptions in 2015 we saw what a healthy Palmer brings to the table. He had no lingering effects of his torn ACL from November 2014.
However he dislocated a finger on a hit on Philadelphia Eagles player’s helmet in week 15 last season. He never admitted it but you could see it had to have been bothersome in the playoffs. He was still able to throw the ball alright most of the time but something was different after the Eagles game.
If Palmer goes down in 2016, Stanton is no more prepared to be able to take this team to the Super Bowl than he was in 2014. Stanton is a very good number two quarterback. This team will not make it to Super Bowl LI in Houston though if the Cardinals are riding Stanton as their starting quarterback.