Arizona Cardinals: Sleeping on Carson Palmer?
By Zackary Maus
Carson Palmer isn’t getting the recognition that he should as the 2017 gets ready to start
Carson Palmer, age 37, will be entering his 15th season since drafted number one overall in the 2003 NFL draft. Palmer played eight seasons in Cincinnati before literally refusing to playing another down of football unless traded elsewhere. He then played two seasons in Oakland before finally arriving in his true home, Arizona.
Palmer has played his best ball since becoming a Cardinal. He has passed for a total of 14,804 passing yards over just 4 seasons as a Cardinal. He’s also got a total of 96 passing TD’s over the course of the past few years. While reading those numbers, keep in mind he tore his ACL in 2014 after only playing a total of six games.
The Issue at Hand..
More from Raising Zona
- Arizona Cardinals: Did Kyler Murray scare another coaching candidate?
- Donovan McNabb says the Arizona Cardinals should go defense
- Patrick Mahomes endorses Mike Kafka for Arizona Cardinals coaching gig
- A.J. Green tells Arizona Cardinals that he’s hanging up the cleats
- Best Arizona Sportsbook Super Bowl Promos Ranked
Despite the production over the past four years, instead of being praised, Palmer isn’t even considered an elite quarterback by a lot of NFL analysts. Carson Palmer is actually considered to be middle of the pack and unable to lead a team to a Super Bowl title.
It’s almost like everyone forgot Palmer was a finalist for league MVP in 2015 after bouncing back from an ACL tear in the previous season at the age of 35. It’s like everyone forgot Arizona was a losing, unorganized mess after Warner, and before he arrived in 2013. No one gives Carson the time of day and it’s quite unfair in my eyes.
Analysts also like to blame him for an underwhelming 7-8-1 record last year, even though he played pretty well all year, with 4,233 passing yards, 26 passing TD’s, and a 61.0 completion percentage. Those weren’t all star numbers by any means, but he did the best he could with what he had. He wasn’t solely the one to blame.
All in all, I think all the doubt can be good for Palmer as he enters possibly his final season. Doubting someone can either beat them down or bring the best out of an individual. Having a chip on his shoulder may put the Cardinals at an advantage they may need in certain moments throughout the season. We’ll see what he and the Cards got this year. Let’s hope for the best.