Arizona Cardinals - Fantasy News

Carson Palmer Breaks Arm: Could Colin Kaepernick Play in Arizona?

by Adam Markowitz

10/22/17

NFL

Arizona Cardinals

Carson Palmer

The only good news about the Arizona Cardinals' trip to England is that it's over.

The only good news going forward is that the team has a bye next week.

Getting whipped 33-0 by the Los Angeles Rams wasn’t the most painful part about playing in England, though, as the Cardinals also lost Carson Palmer to a broken arm that is very likely going to end his season – and possibly his career.

Fortunately for Palmer, it was the left arm that was broken. Unfortunately, the early projected timetable for his return is at least eight weeks. By then, there's a good chance Arizona's season will effectively be over.

The Cardinals are just 3-4 and are going to be hitting the reset button on their franchise soon. They have one of the oldest rosters in the league, and they only made it older by bringing in Adrian Peterson to be their lead tailback.

Though Bruce Arians will never concede that this season is over seven games into the year, if we're being realistic, this is now one of the worst teams in the NFL. With Palmer sidelined, it's going to be up to Drew Stanton to come in once again and start.

Unfortunately for Stanton, his career numbers suggest that he's not the man for this job. He went just 5-for-14 for 62 yards with an interception against the Rams. He has a 14-to-20 touchdown to interception ratio for his career, and his career quarterback rating sits at just 66.1.

The only good news that we'll say about Stanton is that he's 8-5 as a starting quarterback. Of course, the teams that he's played on are 8-5 in spite of him, not because of him. Stanton has thrown for more than 300 yards just once in his career, and his teams have averaged just 17.0 points per game with him starting under center.

Drew Stanton Career Game Log (Starts Only)
2016 at San Francisco (W 33-21): 12.76 DFP
2014 at St. Louis (W 12-6): 4.66 DFP
2014 vs. Kansas City (W 17-14): 15.26 DFP
2014 at Atlanta (L 29-18): 12.46 DFP
2014 at Seattle (L 19-3): 6.26 DFP
2014 vs. Detroit (W 14-6): 16.84 DFP
2014 at Denver (L 41-20): 4.72 DFP
2014 vs. San Francisco (W 23-14): 19.36 DFP
2014 at New York Giants (W 25-14): 6.48 DFP
2010 at Tampa Bay (W 23-20): 16.48 DFP
2010 vs. Green Bay (W 7-3): 9.08 DFP
2010 vs. Chicago (L 24-20): 18.32 DFP
2009 at San Francisco (L 20-6): 1.50 DFP

Fortunately for the Cardinals, they have an opportunity to be progressive. They have a bye week in front of them, and one of the 25 or so most talented quarterbacks on the planet just happens to be a free agent.

It just so happens to be that his name is Colin Kaepernick.

Kaepernick isn't a long-term fix for the Cardinals, but at 29 years old, he's still at the point that he can play. We know that he has his issues off the field and has even filed a collusion grievance against the NFL, but the man can play.

Kaepernick has run for 2,300 yards and thrown for 12,271 in 69 career games. He's 37-31-1 as a starter, is averaging 1.23 total touchdowns per game and, most importantly, is a hell of a lot better than Stanton.

In seven career matchups against Arizona, Kaepernick is 4-3, has averaged 261.3 total yards of offense and led his unit to 20.4 points per game.

If the Cardinals are serious about trying to make something out of this season, Kaepernick truly is their only option. They'll have two weeks to get him into game shape by the time they're back on the field. A game that just happens to be against the San Francisco 49ers in Santa Clara.