The Arizona Cardinals extended another year of their Super Bowl window on Friday, when it was announced the team had agreed to an extension with quarterback Carson Palmer and wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald. The news was first reported by ESPN's Adam Schefter.
Palmer's one-year extension is worth just under $24.35 million and comes with a $6.5 million signing bonus, according to NFL Network's Ian Rapoport. The deal will now make both of Palmer's two years fully guaranteed. While terms of Fitzgerald's contract were not immediately available, it should see him receive a pay raise after he took a pay cut last year.
It's great news for the Cardinals and excellent news for fantasy owners. While Palmer and Fitzgerald are both in their 30s, last season showed they still have plenty to offer.
Cardinals' coach Bruce Arians found the perfect quarterback for his system in Palmer and while injuries have hurt Palmer. But last season we saw that he could still put up great numbers, in this case a career-best 35 touchdowns 4,671 passing yards and just 11 interceptions.
Arizona still has a pretty young offensive line and the surrounding cast around Palmer will only get better. David Johnson was just a rookie last year and looked like one of the best all-around backs in the game. John Brown and J.J. Nelson are developing, Michael Floyd is in his prime and of course Palmer has his trusted man in Fitzgerald.
Entering the 2016 season, Palmer remains a top-eight quarterback given his ability to put up big numbers and the number of weapons he has around him to sustain his success. As long as he stays healthy through the 2016 season and entering the 2017 season, he should be a top-10 fantasy quarterback.
Fitzgerald still has WR2 upside this season, though he shouldn'r be amongst the first 25 wide receivers drafted. He will have to share plenty of targets with many of the talented names around him. But what it does mean for Fitzgerald fantasy wise is that for owners in dynasty leagues, he will be back for the 2017 season and it could be longer, so there should be no worries about just one more year of production from the future Hall of Famer.