Cardinals’ Carson Palmer can’t wait for his last shot

Longevity is rare in the NFL. Those who endure are rewarded with experience, perspective and a wealth of friendships. It’s also given Carson Palmer something he never imagined.

He could be the most maligned, misunderstood quarterback in league history.

“As far as the outside chatter, no quarterback can listen to that,” Palmer said. “If you do, it’s a slippery slope. There are some that have (listened), and they don’t fare well or last very long.”

Palmer is entering his 14th season, returning for “one last shot.” That might be the admission of a last-gasp season with the Cardinals. Or maybe it’s just the mentality of any NFL player above the age of 35, where it’s impossible to envision a future beyond the next 16 games.

But Palmer doesn’t sound tired or disconnected. His exuberance belies the time he needed to reconcile his return. His words mock Vegas oddsmakers and the experts who envision another rough road for the Cardinals in 2017.

“I couldn’t be more excited,” said Palmer, who turns 38 in December. “Just from the last couple of weeks, seeing this group of guys work on the field, in the weight room, the attention to detail the guys have, this is a really special group. And the season can’t get here soon enough.”

Over the years, Palmer has been labeled a malcontent (in Cincinnati) and an MVP candidate (in Arizona). He’s been called aloof, which is beyond absurd. His offensive linemen love him. He invited a rookie wide receiver (John Brown) to spend part of the summer at his home in California. He gushes about his teammates publicly, but isn’t afraid to scold them in private settings.

“He’s made me a better person,” Brown said.

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Yet Palmer is still the subject of harsh criticism. His playoff record is spotty, especially his performance in the 2015 postseason. His ability to play high-stakes football in January is a valid conversation and burden of proof. But quarterbacks who aren’t clutch don’t win their past three starts in Seattle. Or throw five touchdown passes to win a state championship game in high school.

The idea that Palmer has hit the wall is equally stupid. His statistics dipped during the team’s fall from grace in 2016, but the numbers aren’t linear. Palmer was not effective in the first half of the season, and just like Diamondbacks ace Zack Greinke, he didn’t throw with his standard velocity.

But anyone who was paying attention marveled at how he finished the season, especially behind a makeshift offensive line. He threw 13 touchdown passes with just four interceptions in his final six games, once again resembling a top-tier quarterback in the NFL.

Bottom line: If Palmer was slipping down the mountain, he would’ve been stronger at the beginning, and weaker as the season progressed. His season looked exactly the opposite.

Palmer has regrets. A Week 1 loss to the Patriots lingered for a month, knocking the swagger out of a team that came into the season with too much confidence. He can’t hide the contempt he feels for the 1-3 start in 2016.

“To lose on ‘Sunday Night Football’ like we did, it just became more than it was,” Palmer said. “As a leader I cannot let that happen. I should not let that happen. But it did. It just slowed us up.”

Palmer loves the team’s 2017 schedule, which is affixed on a weight-room wall. He likes the idea of starting with consecutive road games on the East Coast and finishing with four home games in the final six weeks.

“There’s so much red on that schedule in the last month, it’s unbelievable,” Palmer said.

He also disputes the notion that the 2017 Cardinals have less talent than they did a year ago, a team diminished by the losses of Calais Campbell, Tony Jefferson and Michael Floyd. He says the development of Markus Golden gives the defense two premier pass rushers off the edge while the addition of Karlos Dansby brings powerful leadership. Offensively, he’s even more excited.

“Smokey (John Brown) is back, and it’s so good to see,” Palmer said. “David Johnson is David Johnson. The same with Larry Fitzgerald. But (former Patriots wide receiver) Aaron Dobson has had a great spring. He’s come in, learned the offense and looked really, really good. Brittan Golden has had a great camp. He’s caught every single thing thrown his way, and he’s one of the most consistent route runners we have. There’s a ton to be excited about. I could go on and on.”

Palmer feels tremendously blessed. He starred at USC and has made over $150 million playing professional football. But he hasn’t won a championship of any kind since capturing a state title in basketball as a high school senior, when he was the sixth man on a team full of overachievers.

“I was with my 12 best friends in high school,” he said. “None of us were great basketball players. And we were beating guys that were going to UCLA and USC and Auburn and Kentucky. We were a bunch of run around, great energy, play great defense kind of guys. And we were beating these blue-chip, No. 1 recruits in the country. It was an unbelievable run.”

Palmer relishes the purity of that moment, how a team full of great guys and great chemistry was far greater than the sum of its parts. He sees evidence that will also be the story of the 2017 Cardinals.

Let’s hope Palmer is right. There are players in the NFL who deserve a little poetic justice, and he’s one of them. And even though he doesn’t listen much to his critics, it would be nice to shut them up, once and for all.

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Reach Bickley at [email protected] or 602-444-8253. Follow him on twitter.com/dan.bickley. Listen to “Bickley and Marotta” weekdays from 12-2 p.m. on 98.7 Arizona’s Sports Station.