Carson Hilton Palmer was born on December 27,1979 and is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League for 15 seasons, primarily with the Cincinnati Bengals and Arizona Cardinals.
92 Facts About Carson Palmer
2.
Carson Palmer played college football for the USC Trojans, winning the Heisman Trophy in 2002 as a senior.
3.
Amid declining success and conflicts with Bengals ownership, Carson Palmer was traded to the Oakland Raiders, where he played two seasons before joining Arizona.
4.
Carson Palmer enjoyed his most successful year in 2015, aiding the Cardinals in reaching the NFC Championship Game and being named to his third Pro Bowl, in addition to being a second-team All-Pro.
5.
Carson Palmer retired following the 2017 regular season after spending much of the year on injured reserve.
6.
Carson Palmer went on to attend Santa Margarita Catholic High School in Rancho Santa Margarita, California.
7.
Carson Palmer followed up a stellar junior season with a remarkable senior season, cementing himself as one of the most touted players ever to come out of Santa Margarita Catholic High School.
8.
Carson Palmer was named to the first-team all-league and All-CIF despite suffering a stress fracture in his right foot.
9.
Carson Palmer finished his high school career with 27 school records and 2 straight CIF championships.
10.
Carson Palmer entered the University of Southern California in 1998, where he played for head coach Paul Hackett the first three years of his college career.
11.
Carson Palmer began the season as a back-up to Mike Van Raaphorst.
12.
Carson Palmer only played for three series in the second half and went 3-of-6 and 79 passing yards.
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Carson Palmer bounced back the next week in a comeback win against Arizona State, finishing the game with 4 completions for 69 yards and a touchdown.
14.
Carson Palmer continued as the starter the next week, racking up 19-of-26 completions, 203 yards, and a touchdown in a win against Stanford.
15.
In week 11, Carson Palmer started against number 3 UCLA, in what was his toughest test yet.
16.
Carson Palmer started his first career bowl game against TCU in the Sun Bowl.
17.
Carson Palmer was sacked 6 times and completed 17-of-28 passes, 280 passing yards, and 1 touchdown.
18.
Carson Palmer ended his freshman season with 130 completions, 235 attempts, 1,755 passing yards, 116 rushing yards, 7 passing touchdowns, 6 interceptions, and a rushing touchdown.
19.
Carson Palmer started the first half the next game against the Washington and was benched the second half for Mike Van Raaphorst, after going 12 of 26 for 145 yards and an interception.
20.
Carson Palmer defeated Oregon State in week 10, after going 21 of 28, for 171 passing yards, and an interception.
21.
Carson Palmer resumed the role as starting quarterback for the fourth consecutive year and was voted the team captain.
22.
Carson Palmer returned the next game to throw another 4 touchdowns, while throwing the most yards ever against Notre Dame.
23.
Carson Palmer finished his last season with a total of 309 completions, 489 attempts, 3,942 passing yards, 33 touchdown passes, and 10 interceptions while breaking the school record for most completions, passing yards, and passing touchdowns in a season.
24.
Carson Palmer was voted the winner of the 2002 Heisman Award, outpacing Iowa's Brad Banks and Penn State's Larry Johnson.
25.
Carson Palmer was the fifth player and first quarterback from USC to win the award.
26.
Carson Palmer ended up being the Pac-10's career leader for completions, attempts, and passing yards.
27.
On July 23,2003, Carson Palmer signed a six-year contract worth $42.69 million after being selected first overall by the Cincinnati Bengals.
28.
Unlike most quarterbacks drafted first overall, Carson Palmer did not play at all during his rookie season; instead, Carson Palmer learned the position during games and in practice under head coach Marvin Lewis and quarterbacks coach Ken Zampese.
29.
Carson Palmer made his NFL debut in Week 1 against the New York Jets.
30.
Carson Palmer's performance improved from this low point, though it seesawed over the next five weeks.
31.
Carson Palmer's rating was in the 60s in Weeks 6,8, and 10, interspersed by a solid 85.0 in a Week 7 win over the Denver Broncos, and 94.8 in a win over the Dallas Cowboys, where he rushed for a touchdown.
32.
In that stretch, Carson Palmer averaged 204 yards per game with four touchdowns and five interceptions.
33.
Carson Palmer missed the rest of the season and first put on the knee brace he would wear for much of the rest of his career.
34.
Statistically, Carson Palmer had a stellar individual season, throwing a league-high 32 touchdown passes and leading the league in completion percentage.
35.
Carson Palmer became the first Bengals quarterback to finish with a quarterback rating over 100, which set the team record in that category; and he tied Indianapolis' Peyton Manning for most consecutive games, 9, with a triple-digit quarterback rating.
36.
In Week 1, Carson Palmer completed 26 out of 34 passes and 2 passing touchdowns against the Cleveland Browns.
37.
In Week 2, Carson Palmer had another great game, throwing for 337 yards to go along with 3 passing touchdowns and an interception against the Minnesota Vikings.
38.
In Week 4, Carson Palmer again had a rating over 100 in a game against the Houston Texans.
39.
Carson Palmer threw for 272 passing yards and 2 more passing touchdowns.
40.
Carson Palmer's rating was over 100 for the ninth straight game dating back to last season.
41.
Carson Palmer completed 21 of 36 passes for 227 yards but was picked off 2 times and for the first time all season, failed to throw at least a touchdown in a game.
42.
Carson Palmer bounced back in Week 8 against the Green Bay Packers.
43.
In Week 9, Carson Palmer passed for 248 yards and 2 touchdowns as the Bengals won their game against the Baltimore Ravens.
44.
Carson Palmer signed a six-year contract extension through the 2014 season with the Bengals on December 29,2005.
45.
Forty minutes later, a magnetic resonance imaging test revealed a severe injury, thought to be career-threatening at the time; Carson Palmer had tears of both the anterior cruciate and medial collateral ligaments as well as cartilage and meniscus damage, and a displaced kneecap.
46.
Carson Palmer underwent reconstructive surgery on his injured knee in Houston, Texas, on January 10,2006.
47.
The Bengals accepted Paulos's assessment Carson Palmer's knee was reconstructed using an Achilles tendon from a 44-year-old woman who was killed by a drunk driver nearly two years before Carson Palmer's injury.
48.
Nonetheless, Carson Palmer vowed that he would be the starting quarterback in the Bengals' regular season opener at Kansas City on September 10,2006.
49.
Carson Palmer returned from his injury in time for the 2006 preseason.
50.
Carson Palmer's performance drew rave reviews from many experts, many of whom expected far less of him less than a year after such a serious injury.
51.
Carson Palmer ended up starting all 16 of the Bengals' regular season games, missing only one snap, due to his getting the wind knocked out of him.
52.
Carson Palmer actually did not become totally comfortable with his repaired knee until week 9 against the Chargers when he threw for a career high of 440 yards.
53.
Carson Palmer made the Pro Bowl for the second year in a row, becoming the first Bengals quarterback to do this since Boomer Esiason in 1988 and 1989.
54.
Carson Palmer was named Most Outstanding Player at the Pro Bowl, leading the AFC down the field in the final two minutes for the win.
55.
Carson Palmer completed 8 of 17 passes for 190 yards and 2 touchdowns, one to his Bengals teammate Chad Johnson.
56.
Carson Palmer placed 3rd in voting for NFL Comeback Player of the Year, behind Drew Brees and Chad Pennington.
57.
Carson Palmer said he was fully comfortable with his knee.
58.
Carson Palmer finished the season with 376 completions for 4,131 yards and 26 touchdowns, with 20 interceptions.
59.
Carson Palmer returned the following week against the Dallas Cowboys and completed 23 of 39 passes for 217 yards, two touchdowns, and an interception on the first passing play of the game.
60.
Carson Palmer elected not to undergo Tommy John surgery to repair the damage; instead, he chose to rest the elbow to allow it to heal.
61.
Statistically, Carson Palmer improved from the previous year as his attempts, completion percentage, yardage and touchdown numbers all rose.
62.
News reports said that Carson Palmer was prepared to retire if necessary.
63.
Raiders head coach Hue Jackson was previously the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at USC and helped recruit Carson Palmer, and was the Bengals wide receivers coach during the prime of Carson Palmer's career.
64.
Carson Palmer then signed a new four-year contract worth $43 million.
65.
Carson Palmer completed 8 of 21 passes for 116 yards and 3 interceptions in his Raider debut.
66.
Carson Palmer was on course for a perfect passer rating of 158.3 until he took a hit from Chargers' linebacker Travis LaBoy while attempting a pass early in the fourth quarter that resulted in wobbly pass picked-off by Paul Oliver.
67.
Carson Palmer had a good game statistically going 32 of 46 for 297 yards and a touchdown.
68.
The Raiders went into their bye week with Carson Palmer's stats standing at 99 of 162 pass attempts for 1,081 yards, 5 touchdowns, 2 interceptions.
69.
Carson Palmer went 26 of 46 for 298 yards, a touchdown, an interception, and a rushing touchdown against the Jacksonville Jaguars a week later.
70.
In Week 12, Carson Palmer returned to Cincinnati to face off against his former team the Cincinnati Bengals.
71.
Carson Palmer was officially traded to the Arizona Cardinals on April 2,2013, for a 2013 sixth round draft pick and a conditional pick in the 2014 NFL Draft.
72.
Carson Palmer then signed a two-year restructured contract worth $16 million.
73.
Carson Palmer's coach was Bruce Arians, the former Colts interim coach, who had led the Indianapolis Colts while Chuck Pagano was recovering from cancer treatment.
74.
Carson Palmer ranked 8th in the NFL in passing yards with 4,274 yards, the most of his career.
75.
Carson Palmer became the first player in NFL history to top 4,000 yards passing for three different teams.
76.
In Week 1 against the San Diego Chargers, Carson Palmer threw two touchdowns late in the game to win in an upset.
77.
Carson Palmer missed the next three games, in which backup Drew Stanton won against the New York Giants and San Francisco 49ers and lost to the Denver Broncos.
78.
On November 7,2014, Carson Palmer agreed to a three-year, $49.5 million contract extension with the Cardinals.
79.
Carson Palmer was placed on the injured reserve list the next day, ending his season.
80.
Carson Palmer underwent surgery in which doctors removed the donated Achilles tendon from his knee and replaced it with his own patellar tendon for reconstruction.
81.
Carson Palmer set a franchise record with the Cardinals against the Minnesota Vikings in Week 14, throwing his 31st touchdown, passing Kurt Warner.
82.
In 16 starts, Carson Palmer threw for a franchise record 4,671 yards with 35 touchdowns.
83.
Carson Palmer lost the MVP award to Newton, who received 48 out of 50 votes while Carson Palmer and Brady received one vote each.
84.
Carson Palmer was ranked 12th by his fellow players on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2016.
85.
Carson Palmer started 15 games in 2016 and missed Week 5 against the San Francisco 49ers after suffering a concussion the previous week against the Los Angeles Rams.
86.
Carson Palmer threw for over 4,000 yards for the sixth time in his career and finished the season with 4,233 yards, 26 touchdowns, and 14 interceptions.
87.
Not long after, Carson Palmer was diagnosed with a broken left arm, and was ruled out for at least eight weeks.
88.
Carson Palmer was placed on injured reserve on October 26,2017.
89.
On January 2,2018, Carson Palmer announced his retirement from the NFL.
90.
Carson Palmer would be inducted into the Arizona Cardinals Ring of Honor on September 29,2019, its 18th inductee.
91.
On July 5,2003, Carson Palmer wed former USC soccer player, Shaelyn Fernandes, whom he met during freshman orientation.
92.
Not counting endorsement deals Carson Palmer earned over $174 million during his NFL career.