Because NFL passing statistics have exploded in the modern era, it's fairly difficult to ascertain whether or not someone has a Hall of Fame resume. This applies to quarterbacks as well as wide receivers, with certain guys serving as obvious Canton candidates.
Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers are going in the Hall of Fame, obviously. Some cases are less clear, but Bruce Arians wants everyone to know he believes Carson Palmer is closer than most folks would generally believe.
Arians, speaking to ESPN's Josh Weinfuss, said that he thinks if Palmer wins a Super Bowl then the former No. 1 overall pick has a very good chance to make the Hall of Fame.
"Well, statistically, if you put a ring on his finger, he probably has a chance to be talked about for the Hall of Fame because of his statistics," Arians said.
Just thinking about this from a very vague standpoint, it sounds kind of crazy. Palmer has been an above-average quarterback for most of his career, with various obstacles tripping him up from making the leap to "elite." (Also a vague term.)
Palmer was starting to blossom into one of the best quarterbacks in the game in his third season before an ACL injury in a January 2006 playoff game against the Steelers. He would play the next season and play pretty well. In 2008 he was stymied by an elbow injury that cost him much of the season.
There's a cloud over his departure from the Bengals, with Palmer having threatened to retire and leave the game before eventually being traded to the Raiders, who missed the playoffs (and were roundly criticized for the Palmer trade). The Raiders would later deal Palmer to the Cardinals, where he had another career revival before tearing his ACL again during the 2014 season. The 2015 season saw him almost win the MVP in what was easily the best season of his career, before struggling for the first half of 2016.
Consistency over a lengthy period of time has been a problem, although Palmer has maintained impressive counting stats. He's 14th all time in terms of passing yards in NFL history, ahead of Hall of Famers Dan Fouts, Joe Montana and Johnny Unitas. If he throws for more than 4,000 yards next year he would pass Fran Tarkenton (currently ninth). Two seasons could see him jump John Elway (currently sixth).
He is also 14th in passing touchdowns -- ahead of Montana and Fouts. With 30 passing touchdowns, he would pass Unitas, Warren Moon and Elway on that list.
This all presupposes that Palmer has a huge year, which would also presumably be a part of the Cardinals winning a Super Bowl. And maybe Arians has a case here: rings do weird things to the legacies of players, rightfully so to a degree. If Palmer is a Super Bowl champion with better stats than all but 10 quarterbacks when he retires, he will have a very viable case indeed. Kurt Warner was just inducted into Canton and Palmer has much better stats than Warner, although Warner won a Super Bowl, played in two others and won a regular season MVP.
Palmer, by the way, does not care about the Hall of Fame.
"Really haven't thought about that," Palmer said. "I've thought about a championship a lot."
He added he thinks about it "every day."
In typical Palmer fashion, he isn't letting it consume him and take over his life, but it's pretty clear he's driven by the idea of hoisting the Lombardi Trophy.
"It's not going to make me as a man," Palmer said. "I don't want to live the rest of my life on what I did playing football. I want to live the rest of my life on the type of man, husband, father, son, all those things.
"But there's no doubt that I would love to have a Super Bowl ring."
If Palmer put together a season for the ages, took the Cardinals to a title and secured that ring, the Canton thing might very well take care of itself.
