Cardinals Still Waiting To Hear If Carson Palmer & Larry Fitzgerald Will Return Or Retire

Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports that Cardinals’ brass still doesn’t know if QB Carson Palmer or WR Larry Fitzgerald will be returning for the 2017 season or retire from the NFL.

According to Rapoport, both players are still weighing the possibility of walking away from the league and have been for some time now. However, neither of them has informed the Cardinals of their plans at this point in time.

Rapoport does say that both Palmer and Fitzgerald have had “frequent” conversations with both the coaching staff and team about their situations.

Arizona would reportedly like to know what they’re thinking by the middle of February but Rapoport says that there’s currently no hard deadline for either to make a decision.

A source tells Rapoport that if Palmer retires, it’s more likely Fitzgerald would call it a career, unless he knows who will be the team’s replacement at quarterback.

Rapoport adds that key members of the Cardinals believe both will return, but this optimism could be based on hope more than anything else.

Others around the league seem to think Palmer may have played his last down but people who know Palmer have told Rapoport that he still doesn’t know for sure.

Fitzgerald, 33, agreed to renegotiate his seven-year $113 million contract and signed a two-year, $22 million deal with Arizona that was fully guaranteed included a no-trade clause last year. Arizona gave him another one-year, $11 million extension before the season, so he’s under contract through 2017.

In 2016, Fitzgerald has appeared in all 16 games for the Cardinals and caught 107 passes for 1023 yards receiving and six touchdowns. Pro Football Focus has him rated as the No. 10 receiver out of 115 qualifying players.

Palmer, 37, was in the third year of his four-year, $58.5 million contract and set to make a base salary of $6.35 million for the 2016 season when the Cardinals signed him to a one-year extension worth $24.35 million before the start of the season.

In 2016, Palmer has appeared in 15 games and thrown for 4,233 yards while completing 61 percent of his passes to go along with 26 touchdowns and 14 interceptions. Pro Football Focus has him rated as the No. 17 quarterback out of 34 qualifying players.

We’ll have more regarding Palmer and Fitzgerald as the news is available.