Carson Palmer Injury: Updates on Cardinals Star's Knee and Recovery

Cardinals quarterback Carson Palmer is recovering from a torn ACL. 

Continue for updates.

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Palmer Discusses Recovery

Thursday, March 5

Palmer discussed his recovery process on Thursday, telling reporters he would "be ready to rock-and-roll by the season," according to Around the NFL.

Palmer said he's ahead of schedule and would be ready for training camp, according to Darren Urban of AZCardinals.com. According to Urban, Palmer said he's a "rep guy", so he wants to make sure he's ready for camp. 

Kent Somers of AZ Central Sports reported that Palmer is throwing five times a week. 

Kyle Odegard of AZCardinals.com noted that "Palmer said he was in a funk for awhile after surgery, but now that he can run and sweat 'the last month has been fun again.'

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Arians Says Palmer a Month Ahead of Schedule

Thursday, Feb. 19

Cardinals head coach Bruce Arians discussed Palmer's recovery process, according to Conor Orr of NFL.com: 

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"Don't jinx me, baby," Arians said Thursday. "He's doing extremely well. He's at least three to four weeks ahead of schedule."

While four weeks ahead of schedule sounds good, we're not quite certain what that means. Palmer, who tore his ACL in Week 10 and underwent surgery in November, is still a question mark for the spring.

Arians admitted that he wasn't sure if Palmer would be active at all during voluntary workout sessions throughout the late winter and spring.

"He's done extremely well, he's working his tail off and he's ahead of schedule," Arians said. "He keeps talking about minicamp and we'll see how he progresses ... whether or not we'll let him do anything this spring."

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Palmer's Recovery Going Well

Tuesday, Feb. 17 

Carson Palmer's recovery from an ACL tear is reportedly going quite well, and the quarterback is feeling confident he'll make a full recovery well in advance of next season. 

Ed Werder of ESPN heard from Palmer himself:

That reflects what general manager Steve Keim told Doug and Wolf on Arizona Sports 98.7 about Palmer's rehab last Friday, via Adam Green of ArizonaSports.com:

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He's awesome. He came in, I believe it was yesterday and I talked to him at length, he's more energized than ever and he looked fantastic.

It looks like he put on some lean muscle; he is working his tail off. And I know he's at a point in his rehabilitation process where he's doing some running and he's ahead of schedule. And again, he's more energized than ever.

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On Wednesday, Keim noted that Palmer could be back in time for OTAs, according to Darren Urban of AzCardinals.com.

That's excellent news for Arizona, which was never the same without Palmer after he tore his ACL against the St. Louis Rams in Week 10. The Cardinals were 8-1 after that game, but without Palmer at quarterback, they limped to a 3-4 record the rest of the way and lost to the Carolina Panthers during the Wild Card Round.

In total, the Cardinals were 6-0 with Palmer at quarterback—he also missed three games in September and October with a nerve injury—and 5-6 without him. For the year, he finished with 1,626 passing yards, 11 touchdowns and just three interceptions, completing 62.9 percent of his passes, while Drew Stanton and Ryan Lindley were far less effective in his stead.

In other words, any positive news about Palmer's recovery is huge for the Cardinals. While Palmer is 35 and won't be the team's answer at quarterback forever, he's far better than any other option the team has on its roster. His health is vital if the team is to return to the playoffs. 

So the Cardinals certainly won't hurry him back or rush him into action. But knowing that he is ahead of schedule in his recovery has to be music to the team's ears.