Fitz said he's coming back and it seems like only a matter of time before Carson Palmer does the same. I get why some have trepidation that Palmer has yet to officially say anything, but knowing Palmer, he really didn't want to even make coming back a "thing" if he could've helped it; if Bruce Arians hadn't mentioned that Palmer was on the fence, I'm not sure anyone would even be thinking about it.
(As a side note, on Friday Palmer's 2017 salary of $15.5 million becomes fully guaranteed. Fitz's $11M salary also becomes guaranteed that day.)
It's important to have Palmer, of course. I've heard from fans who think otherwise, who want to move on, but that makes no sense to me. Not that it matters -- Palmer, if he wants to play, is the quarterback. But anytime that subject comes up, it makes me think of the lengthy list of QBs this franchise has had since moving to Arizona. So, as the 2016 season fades and we wait for the 2017 season to gain steam, I thought I'd do a power ranking of the QBs this team has had since 1988, the year they came to the desert. My one requirement: A QB had to have at least 10 starts (eliminating some half-season greats like Boomer Esiason, Derek Anderson and Jay Schroeder. Feel free to insert them into your own list if you choose.) There have been a few.
- Kurt Warner: He's a Hall of Famer and the lone guy to get the Cards to a Super Bowl. So, yeah. He's the best.
- Palmer: He has plenty of critics. But he's been pretty good. He's won a lot of games. And, save for 2014, he's been durable.
- Neil Lomax: Oh, that hip.
- Jake Plummer: Beloved local hero finally got the Cardinals to the playoffs. So fun to watch. Sometimes, frustrating to watch.
- Kevin Kolb: He was usually solid -- he could just never stay healthy. Beat the Patriots in New England.
- Steve Beuerlein: Maybe things would've been a little different if Buddy Ryan hadn't shown up.
- Josh McCown: The man Denny Green believed in enough to justify drafting Fitz.
- Timm Rosenbach: Another guy you wonder about had he had health.
- Matt Leinart: He did just fine his first two starts. But post-Monday Night Meltdown, and after Kurt, everything changed.
- Dave Krieg: To be a QB on a Buddy Ryan team couldn't have been easy.
- Kent Graham: Had the misfortune of trying to be the placeholder for Jake the Snake.
- Chris Chandler: One year as full-time starter got 15 TDs, 15 picks and 12 losses.
- Jeff Blake: Once, I asked him about his career. "It's not like I've played bad ball," he said. "I've just been on bad teams."
- Gary Hogeboom: Those years after Lomax were tough.
- John Skelton: Cards managed to go .500 with him taking over for Kolb in 2011. Fitz helped.
- Tom Tupa: He was a punter first for a reason.
