Arians says Palmer has the skills to take Cardinals to a championship

It took some work, but the Cardinals landed Carson Palmer.

And if you had any doubts on who the starting quarterback will be come Week One, let head coach Bruce Arians clear it up for you.

“We’re extremely excited about our new starting quarterback, Carson Palmer,” Arians said.

There you have it.

Arians isn’t just excited to have Palmer in the “quarterback room,” he’s excited about everyone else that’s there too.

“I think we addressed the position as well as we could in the offseason,” Arians said. “We got two very capable quarterbacks [Palmer, Drew Stanton], and a third in Brian Hoyer, and a young guy in Ryan Lindley.”

“I think our quarterback room right now is as strong as anybody’s in the National Football League,” Arians said. “That’s what we set out to do as an organization, to strengthen that position, because we knew what we had around it.”

It isn’t a fluke that Palmer’s headed into his 10th season. Arians can tell immediately why he’s made it this long and why he’s a good fit for the vertical passing system he and assistant head coach Tom Moore are implementing.

“He’s big, he’s athletic, he can throw the football anywhere on the field,” Arians said. “But I think having watched him play, mostly in Cincinnati across the field from me, he’s obviously got great leadership.”

Arians said when he was with the Steelers, their defenses would always try to knock Palmer off his game, but they weren’t able to do it because of his toughness.

Arians is hoping Palmer brings that same level of leadership and toughness to the Cardinals.

“I’m looking forward to that leadership, along with that skill level that he possesses to take us to the championship,” Arians said.

This is Palmer’s third team. Things went sour at the end of his run with the Bengals, prompting his move to Oakland. Things didn’t get much better for him in the Bay Area, and he wanted out of there.

Now he’s with the Cardinals, and he says he feels reinvigorated being with his new team.

“Absolutely,” Palmer said. “The guys in that locker room, the playmakers there are, the defense that’s in place, and just getting here, meeting all these new people, people I’ve never met, people I played against and played with in the past, it’s very exciting.”

“It’s hard to describe the feeling when you enter a new opportunity, but it’s a great opportunity,” Palmer said.