February 20, 2018

Palmer is hanging up the cleats after 15 NFL seasons and leaving behind a gaping hole in the Cardinals roster with the team having failed to groom a young signal-caller to take his place.

"Over the years, I’ve had teammates who decided to hang it up and I would ask them how they knew when it was time to walk away. The answer was almost always the same: You just know. For me that time is now. Why? Quite simply, I just know."

Those were some of the final words from a segment of former Arizona Cardinals quarterback Carson Palmer’s retirement letter. Palmer is hanging up the cleats after 15 NFL seasons and leaving behind a gaping hole in the Cardinals roster with the team having failed to groom a young signal-caller to take his place.

In this article, I will be taking a look back at Palmer’s career as both an NFL player and a fantasy quarterback while concluding with a brief look at what to expect from the Cardinals in 2018 without him.

Palmer's Thrilling, Tumultuous Career

Carson Palmer entered the 2003 NFL Draft as a six foot-five inch tall, strong-armed 23-year old quarterback from the University of Southern California with a Heisman Trophy under his belt. "He's the best no-risk guy among the quarterbacks," said one scout of Palmer, "he might not be instant potatoes, but give him a couple of years and you have a guy. You might even get Drew Bledsoe." Palmer's low-risk, high-reward characterization no doubt contributed to him being selected first overall by the Cincinnati Bengals and taking the starting job from first-string quarterback Jon Kitna. Despite playing seven seasons with the team, Cincinnati wouldn't be his final landing spot in the NFL. He would go on to play for the likes of both the Oakland Raiders for two seasons and Arizona Cardinals for five seasons. Here is a snap-shot of Palmer's numbers throughout his career:

In total, Palmer threw for 46,247 yards (12th-most in NFL history) and 294 touchdowns, all while averaging a 62-percent completion percentage. He managed to throw for over 4,000 passing yards in a season on each of his three teams, but clearly had some of his best years in Arizona where he experienced career-highs in passing yardage (4,671) , passing touchdowns (35), and yards per pass attempt (8.7).

Unfortunately, an injury bug seemed to follow Palmer around for much of his career beginning with a devastating knee injury in the 2005-06 postseason. In addition to two ACL injuries, Palmer dealt with a broken arm and multiple nagging elbow, shoulder, and concussion issues throughout his career. He also had limited playoff success, racking up only one win in his four playoff appearances. That being said, Palmer proved to be an above average quarterback option in his 15 NFL seasons despite not living up to the high expectations of being selected first overall.

How Should We Remember Carson Palmer in Fantasy Football?

It can be difficult to rank a quarterback's all-time fantasy impact, but Palmer's numbers and their correlation with his fantasy football finishes makes it clear that he is deserving of being remembered as a top-shelf fantasy option that lost his luster due to injury:

Across seven seasons where he played a full 16 games, Palmer never finished lower than QB-17 and recorded four top-10 fantasy finishes. Although owners didn't get a consistent group of finishes later in Palmer's career, he did manage to finish as QB-5 in 2015 and was on pace for another top-5 finish in 2017 before being derailed by a broken arm. When operating in a high volume passing offense, Palmer was clearly capable of putting up exceptional numbers. Of course, he became noticeably more erratic in his fantasy finishes since suffering an ACL tear in the 2005 post-season on a hit by Kimo Von Oelhoffen and was never quite the same.

The Cardinal's Future Without Palmer

At professional football's most important position, the Arizona Cardinals appear to have quite an unremarkable group in the wake of Palmer's departure. Ten-year veteran Drew Stanton is coming off of a torn ACL and headed into free agency as an unremarkable journeyman, former Jacksonville Jaguar and San Francisco 49er Blaine Gabbert showed declining play toward the end of 2017, and Matt Barkley has scarcely proven ready to handle the starting spotlight. There is no doubt that Arizona will prioritize getting their next man under center in the offseason, but who that person will be is largely up in the air. Free agent quarterback names like Kirk Cousins and A.J. McCarron certainly sound appealing, though there are certainly plenty of young quarterback options available with the Cardinals' 15th overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft.

Unfortunately for fantasy owners, now is not a good time to be investing in Arizona Cardinals' offensive pieces. With turnover inevitable, it will be difficult to depend on any skill position player not named David Johnson or Larry Fitzgerald. Removing a talented arm like Palmer from the mix means the high-flying offense fans are used to seeing will experience plenty of unpredictability on Sundays to go with fewer scoring opportunities. In short, Carson Palmer, you will be missed.