Carson Palmer was a fantasy football darling two seasons ago when he finished as the runner-up to Cam Newton for the 2015 NFL MVP. This year, Palmer isn’t considered a top fantasy quarterback, and chances are he will go undrafted in several leagues this year. If you are interested in betting on NFL games, check out some of the sites that offer online sports betting.
Palmer, who was still a top fantasy pickup last season, has been supplanted by teammate David Johnson, who is considered by most fantasy experts as the top player to draft, after gaining 2100 yards from scrimmage and recording 20 touchdowns last season.
While Palmer is certainly no longer in his prime, he shouldn’t be written off just yet. The Cardinals were one of the biggest disappointments in the NFL last season after ending their campaign with a 7-8-1 record. The team was expected to compete for the NFC Championship after winning 13 games the previous season, but just couldn’t get going.
Despite their record, Palmer was quite productive. For the season, the veteran quarterback had 4,233 yards and 26 touchdowns in 15 games. In fact, Palmer had more 300-yard games than all other quarterbacks in the NFL except Drew Brees and Kirk Cousins.
The previous season, Palmer threw for 4,671 yards and 35 touchdowns, so his numbers didn’t fall off that badly, which makes people like me wonder why a quarterback that has been lighting it up for the past two seasons is now being projected to go undrafted in a lot of fantasy leagues.
One of the obvious reasons fantasy experts are wary about Palmer is the fact that Johnson has emerged as one of the best players in football, and they assume the Cardinals will want to feed him the ball more, which will take away from the team’s passing game.
The assessment on Johnson makes a lot of sense, but he still led the league in yards from scrimmage last year and had one of the highest usage rates, but Palmer was still able to air out the ball and put up big numbers.
Another reason fantasy experts are not high on Palmer this year is the fact that he is 37-years-old. Their concerns about his age are understandable, but still, doesn’t make a lot of sense. Tom Brady, who won his fifth Super Bowl last season is 39-years-old, Drew Brees, who is also playing at a high level, is going to be 38.
If Palmer had regressed at the end of the season, his age would be a fair criticism. However, he did not, so there is no point in holding it against him.
With Larry Fitzgerald still playing, Palmer has a lot of talented players around him and is likely going to put up numbers similar to what he has done in the past couple of seasons.
The fact that fantasy experts aren’t high on him also plays in your favor because a lot of people will listen to their advice and leave Palmer available until the late rounds or not draft him at all. If that is the case, consider it an opportunity to snag a pretty good quarterback that will give you a lot of points that others will wish they had taken by the time the season is underway.
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