On Tuesday Carson Palmer retired, which put an end to a 15-year career that saw him taking snaps for the Bengals (for eight seasons), the Raiders (two seasons), and most recently, the Cardinals (five).
In fact, Arizona's Twitter account posted an open letter Palmer wrote that thanked and explained his decision to fans:
Following a Heisman-trophy winning senior season, Palmer was drafted as the first overall pick by Cincinnati in the 2003 NFL draft. Palmer made two playoff appearances with the Bengals in addition to making two Pro Bowls. However, in the 2005-06 playoffs (the same year he led the NFL in TD passes), he suffered a career-threatening leg injury after Steelers defensive tackle Kimo von Oelhoffen collapsed his legs during what turned out to be a 66-yard touchdown pass in the first round of the playoffs. While Palmer did recover, the play's legacy lived on via the "Carson Palmer Rule," which outlawed defenders hitting QBs below the knees if they're in a defenseless position attempting to throw.
In 2011, Palmer actually briefly retired until Cincinnati agreed to trade him, which they eventually did by sending him to Oakland in October. With the Raiders he had two extremely underwhelming years by his standards, posting just an 8-16 record in games he started.
In April 2013, he was traded to Arizona where, like Kurt Warner before him, he experienced a bit of a revival. He helped lead the franchise to a pair of postseason berths, and also posted the best season of his career in 2015 by throwing for 4,671 yards on top of 35 TDs (to just 11 interceptions). He made the Pro Bowl for the third and final time that season, though his team came up just shy of the Super Bowl when they got utterly smoked 49-15 by the Carolina Panthers in the NFC Championship.
The 38-year-old never did make an appearance in a Super Bowl, but he did have an otherwise successful career with final totals of 46,427 passing yards and 294 touchdowns, in addition to a QB rating of 87.9.
As expected of a guy who played a decade-and-a-half in the NFL, his retirement announcement made a ripple:
Sort of makes you feel old.
