Carson Palmer agrees to $50 million extension
The Arizona Cardinals and veteran quarterback Carson Palmer have been discussing an extension during the regular season, as talks were first reported in mid-October. Today, talks heated up with a report that both sides were close to agreeing to a new contract, as Palmer was in the final year of his deal. Now, CBS Sports’s Jason La Canfora reports that Palmer has agreed to a three-year, $50 million extension with the Cardinals, and they have definitely given him a large sum of money with this contract. It will be interesting to see how much of it is guaranteed, since Palmer isn’t worth $16 million per year at face value.
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The length of the deal isn’t surprising, as the NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported earlier that both sides were close to finalizing a deal that would likely last three years and keep Palmer with Bruce Arians and the Cardinals until his retirement. It looks like that’s the plan for the Cardinals, barring a sudden collapse in play from Palmer, which isn’t impossible given that he’s 34 and dealt with a nagging, multi-week nerve issue.
Palmer has been quite good for the Cardinals this season, as he’s helped lead an efficient offense for the team with the league’s best record. With Larry Fitzgerald, Michael Floyd, Andre Ellington, and John Brown at his disposal, Palmer has no shortage of weapons, and he’s done everything Arians has asked of him. I see him as an average quarterback in this league, but the Cardinals like him, and, more importantly, they like the stability he brings to the table. The Cards have committed to Palmer for three years at a pretty hefty price, but the analysis of this contract hinges on the guaranteed money involved.
At face value, it seems like the Cardinals are going to overpay Palmer, so it’s all about how much money he will make no matter what. At 34, Palmer’s bust potential and injury risk are high, and he isn’t a truly great QB to begin with. But it’s imprudent to criticize the deal until the guaranteed details come out. Under his old deal, Palmer would have made $10 million next season, but he was actually in a contract year, since his 2015 season was a voidable year. In other words, we always knew he would make significantly more than $10 million per year in his new deal.
Update: The NFL Network’s Albert Breer and Arizona Republic’s Kent Somers have implied that a deal hasn’t been struck yet.