Arizona Cardinals quarterback Carson Palmer has done his part to help the team's salary-cap situation. Palmer said Thursday that he restructured his recently extended contract in an effort to give Arizona more flexibility to pursue free agents starting Tuesday. "Yeah, I did that maybe a month ago, restructured and changed some things for salary cap reasons," Palmer said. Carson Palmer, who hopes to return in time for OTAs, has agreed to restructure his Cardinals deal. However, according to the NFL Players Association website, a restructured deal has not been filed. Palmer's extension, signed in November two days before he tore his ACL against the St. Louis Rams, called on him to earn a $1 million base salary in 2015, with a $9.5 million roster bonus given out on the fifth day of the league year, but his cap hit was $14.5 million. Palmer met with the media Thursday for the first time since the day after Arizona lost to the Carolina Panthers in an NFC wild card game in January. He said rehab for his left ACL has been "coming along great" in the three-and-a-half months since he had the surgery to repair the ligament, and he's hoping to return to the field this spring. "I don't even know what month it is when that mandatory minicamp is, but I'm shooting for that," Palmer said. "That's my goal, and like I said, hopefully at some point some of the OTA practices. Until we get there, I don't know, but I'm shooting to get some reps at some of those practices. "Nine months will be training camp and I'll be ready for that." The quarterback mentioned that the nerve injury in his right throwing shoulder that caused him to miss three games early in the season has been "great." Palmer said he's been running for the past few weeks and throws five days a week. His workouts have progressed to include squatting, leg presses and sled pulls. He starts his rehab sessions with a deep-tissue massage and said the training staff gets him right into lifting and running, while incorporating quarterback drills, and foot-work drills around bags and cones. A typical week for Palmer is Monday through Friday starting around 8:15 a.m. and ending about 12:45 p.m. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, Palmer runs - "hard run days" he called them - and does agility days. Tuesdays and Thursdays are Palmer's heavy-lifting days. He's usually rehabbing for four to five hours per day, while making sure he's getting in position-specific work. Having gone through one ACL rehabilitation already in his career, Palmer knows where his progress is in relation to the end goal. He's often being told to slow down, he said, as hard as it is for him not to put forth a full effort. But he has a goal in mind. "I'm going to be ready to rock and roll by the season," Palmer said. "I'm definitely going to be ready by that, definitely going to be ready for camp and shooting to be getting reps in our mandatory mini, and hopefully in some of the OTA practices." http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/1...rdinals-restructures-contract-aims-ready-otas
Lol. "Hey...Dockett's signing with the Niners!" "What?" "DOCKETT IS GOING WITH THE NINERS!" "Oh...should we start clearing cap space? What's today's date?"
Exactly. You don't think Dockett is licking his chops for the two games against the Cards next season?