NFL Arizona Cardinals

Carson Palmer Extension Is a Smart Move For the Arizona Cardinals

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By @bradberreman24

Carson Palmer, Arizona Cardinals, Contract Extension

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Heading into Sunday’s game against the St. Louis Rams, the Arizona Cardinals  are 7-1 with a two-game lead in the NFC West. Quarterback Carson Palmer missed three games earlier in the season with a nerve issue in his shoulder, but the Cardinals are 5-0 in the games he has started and he has 11 touchdown passes and just two interceptions in those contests.

The Cardinals and Palmer agreed to a three-year, $50 million contract extension on Friday, which will keep the soon-to-be 35-year old from becoming a free agent after the season. Terms of the deal have not been officially disclosed by the team, but ESPN’s Chris Mortensen reported that the guaranteed portion of the deal ($20.5 million) runs through 2015.

Palmer has given Arizona stability under center since being acquired from the Oakland Raiders, with a 15-6 record in 21 starts over the last two seasons (12-2 since Week 8 of 2013). On the surface making a commitment to an aging quarterback whose future seemed to be in doubt a month ago looks foolish, but the Cardinals made a smart move by keeping Palmer in the fold.

Drew Stanton started the three games Palmer missed this season, and the Cardinals made a move to secure their quarterback of the future by drafting Logan Thomas in the fourth round of May’s draft. Stanton may keep the No. 2 spot on the depth chart in 2015, which is the final year of his contract, while Thomas was considered very raw coming out of Virginia Tech and may be a year or two away from being ready to start.

The front-loaded structure of Palmer’s extension, assuming that is indeed the case, eliminates a big chunk of risk for the Cardinals. With no guaranteed money after next season, again under the assumption that is how the contract is structured, any concern over Palmer’s health can be addressed without the team having to take a significant salary cap hit in 2016 or 2017 if they choose to cut ties. When considering that the deal will also give Thomas time to develop, keeping Palmer around looks like a no-lose proposition for Arizona.

Brad Berreman is Columnist at Rant Sports.com. Connect with him on Twitter or Google +.

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