Carson Palmer

Week 2 vs. Tampa Bay

Carson Palmer had 271 yards and two touchdowns last week against the Patriots. Not a bad outing, despite the loss, as he didn’t throw any picks and showed that the Cardinals are still a force on offense.

This week, he’ll face a Tampa defense that gave up 334 yards and a pair of touchdowns to Matt Ryan last week and has a good enough offense to stay in the game. Arizona should be in full attack-mode this week to try and get past the Week 1 loss against a Patriots team missing their top two players, which should mean good things for the offense. Palmer is a top-ten option and should be active in all leagues.

Fantasy Upside
Carson Palmer played at least 15 games for the third time in four seasons in 2015, starting every game while throwing for 4,671 yards, 35 touchdowns. He also greatly improving his decision-making while throwing only 11 interceptions -- his fewest in a full season in his career, with the next best being 12 back in 2005. Palmer is in full command of the Cardinals offense. More importantly, he has Larry Fitzgerald, Michael Floyd, John Brown, Jaron Brown and J.J. Nelson. David Johnson also provides additional receiving firepower out of the backfield. With the offensive line set to improve with veteran Evan Mathis stepping in at right guard to help mentor first-year starting tackle D.J. Humphries, Palmer is sitting in the catbird's seat. He threw for 300-plus yards nine times last season, 265-plus four more and had multiple touchdowns 11 times while throwing more than one pick just once.

Fantasy Downside
It's fair to wonder if Palmer will overcome the setback of a ghastly six-turnover performance in the Cardinals NFC Championship Game loss. Will Palmer's postseason failures continue to haunt him? Or will the 36-year-old quarterback bounce back as the leader of a stacked roster?

2016 Bottom Line
Yes. I'm reaching on the downside, because I don't really think there's much to the questions posed (and neither does head coach Bruce Arians). "He'll come back with more vengeance than before the injury," Arians said. With a strong supporting cast, there's no reason to believe Palmer won't continue playing at a similar level in 2016 to what we saw in 2015.

Week 19 vs. Green Bay

Carson Palmer finished his MVP caliber regular season fourth in the NFL in passing yards, tied for second in touchdown passes, and with the third best quarterback rating. The veteran from USC led the Cardinals to the number two seed in the playoffs and will look to make it back to the NFC Championship Game with a win over the Packers this weekend.

The chances look pretty good. Despite the Packers looking solid against Washington last week, and despite the Green Bay defense ranking sixth in the league against the pass this season, Palmer should put up good numbers in the divisional round. Palmer threw for a pair of touchdowns in a beatdown of the Packers just a few weeks ago, and will be playing at home in Arizona. Palmer is the second best fantasy quarterback option this week and is a fine option in all fantasy playoff formats.