Carson Palmer feels heightened urgency as career nears finish line
TEMPE, Ariz. -- Carson Palmer hasn't been in Bruce Arians' ear just yet during the team's offseason workouts, but the Cardinals coach knows it's coming.
"He'll try to talk me into something here probably by next week," Arians said Tuesday of his quarterback. "He was back there real antsy in blitz drill."
Palmer is just six months "and two days" removed from surgery to repair a torn ACL suffered last November, when he stepped awkwardly in a game against the St. Louis Rams. He knows it will be two more months until he is fully cleared. But Arizona's starting quarterback says his knee, leg and body feel great, so he's been working back channels.
"I've been politicking with the trainers and the physical therapists," he said. "Twelve plays just isn't enough for me. I need more action out there."
Most players are anxious to get back on the field after injuries, but Palmer's motivation is different from most. He knows he's on borrowed time.
"He knows the clock is ticking. We all know the clock is ticking," Arians said. "It is for a lot of guys on this team. You get a window to make a run; most of it depends on your quarterback. Right now, it's our window to make this run with him, so there's a sense of urgency."
Palmer is 35, and as he put it, "35-year-old old quarterbacks only play until they're 36, 37, 38."
"I thought I was this way five years ago," Palmer said. "I thought I was all in; 100 percent in and 100 percent focused and committed, and I was not compared to where I am now. It wasn't for lack of trying. I just wasn't mature enough to realize it back then.
"You only get so many opportunities. If you're lucky to play as long as I have, it takes you until you know you're getting to the end that you realize how small that window is and how few opportunities you're going to have."
Palmer said the realization first hit after surgery.
"Late November, laying on a bed with my leg in a CPM (continuous passive motion) machine and bandaged up, watching football on Sundays from home; watching my teammates play," he said. "Literally from November 18 on, I just had a very tight focus, a very small vision, a certain intensity, a certain realness about everything I do, whether it be about my diet or what I do on Saturdays and Sunday as far as stretching, taking care of my body and recovering for Monday.
"Training, studying, film-watching, reading: It's just been a very focused offseason for me."
For the time being, Palmer, who will wear a knee brace all season, is only throwing in seven-on-seven drills. Arians is considering the possibility of an expanded menu during the team's upcoming minicamp.
"He could go right now," Arians said. "It's just me being cautious.
"We'll just keep monitoring. Minicamp for sure, but I'm not afraid if he doesn't (go then), as long as he's throwing seven on seven. I know he can hand it off. The seven-on-seven, we blitz enough in that so he gets enough looks. He's getting prepared."
Palmer is also enjoying the camaraderie of teammates again.
"I felt rusty, like I expected, but it just felt good not to be around cones and hurdles and step-overs and the different on-field things we've been using," he said. "It felt good to be around other humans in seven-on-seven and have that competition, that speed, that quickness of the game."
It even felt good to take a ribbing from the secondary in Tuesday's practice.
"There was a lot of trash-talking going on early, and that's the stuff you miss, too; that's the stuff I couldn't wait to get in for," he said, smiling. "They took one on the chin today. Tomorrow's a new day."
Follow Craig Morgan on Twitter
