Posted in: NFL, Sports | Tagged: Arizona Cardinals, Bruce Arians, Carson Palmer, entertainment, nfl, sports

Arizona Cardinals Quarterback Carson Palmer Calls it Quits

Published Tue, 02 Jan 2018 23:27:34 -0600

Carson Palmer has announced his retirement today in an open letter after spending 15 seasons in the NFL. The 38-year old quarterback came out of USC having won the Heisman Trophy and joined the Cincinnati Bengals where he played from 2003 to 2010. He then spent two seasons with the Oakland Raiders (2011-2012) before ending up with the Arizona Cardinals starting in 2013. In the letter he talked about how he knew it was time to walk away from the game.

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.

Part of the reason may also have to do with the retirement of Cardinals head coach Bruce Arians yesterday and the possible retirement of wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald. Palmer went 38-21-1 in his five years in Arizona including a 13-3 season that lead to the NFC Championship game. That is the farthest he ever got in his career. Overall he was 92-88-1 for his career. He's finishing up with 46,247 yards, 294 touchdowns and 187 interceptions. He ranks 11th in career completions, 12th in passing yards and touchdown passes and 14th in attempts.

His career was also marred by injuries. He played until week 7 this season, a game in London against the Los Angeles Rams, where he broke his arm and was done for the season. He was replaced by Blaine Gabbert for five games and Drew Stanton for four. Meaning he had some time to think about his future this season. Palmer also had two major knee injuries in his career, tearing the ACL in his left knee twice, once in 2006 and again in 2014. He missed 42 games during his career for injury and 16 he spent riding the bench his rookie year

Who will replace Palmer on the Cardinals remains to be seen as the team now has no quarterbacks under contract for 2018. They hold the 15th overall pick in the draft and could find a quarterback there or there could be a few interesting names in free agency depending on what happens with Eli Manning, Kirk Cousins and Alex Smith. Historically the team has gone for veteran signal callers over rookies having brought in Palmer, Kurt Warner and Kevin Kolb in the last two decades.

But before they can address the quarterback position, they'll need to find their new head coach.

Source: ESPN

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