While Carson Palmer was a solid quarterback during his peak years in the early to mid-2000s, the amount of money teams have shelled out to him was not worth the performance he put up throughout his fifteen season NFL career. In the seventh grade, Palmer was getting attention for his size and arm strength later he would commit to the University of Southern California. Palmer would play for the Trojans from 1998-2002 and win the Heisman Trophy and lead his team to a 2003 Orange Bowl victory over Iowa. Palmer would put up career numbers including 11,818 passing yards and 72 touchdowns with a passer percentage rate of 59.1%.
After an impressive collegiate career at USC, Palmer was drafted 1st overall in the 2003 NFL Draft by the Cincinnati Bengals were he would play his best football in his professional career. Palmer led the Bengals to their first playoff appearance in fifteen years in 2005 and also led the team to the postseason an additional time in 2009. In 2005, Palmer signed a six-year, $97 million contract extension with the Bengals but ended up receiving only $84 million from the Ohio-based franchise. Carson also received $15 million for two years of service with the Oakland Raiders and $73 million for five years of service with the Arizona Cardinals. Palmer retired after the 2017 NFL season and left with his pocket lined with more than $174 million.