It's easy to look at the Cardinals and point to a team that will rise or fall with the fate of 37-year-old quarterback Carson Palmer.
With Pro Bowl wideout Larry Fitzgerald also a month away from turning 34, Arizona is talked about as a team with a rapidly narrowing Super Bowl window.
That's not how the Cardinals see themselves.
"That window," general manager Steve Keim said Tuesday, per Peter King of The MMQB. "We've got two great players with some age, but the rest of our team is not old -- at all. I don't put a lot of stock in it. Look, we know we've got to get a long-term quarterback at some point, and we will. But we've got good youth all over our roster."
That begins on offense with whirlwind running back David Johnson, who carried the team on his back last season until Palmer began his late-season surge under center. Coaches also are encouraged by the healthy return of bulked-up wideout John Brown.
"We're a year older, yeah. But I look at it like we're years younger at some spots, too," Palmer told King. "Robert Nkemdiche will step in and play well this year on our defensive line. We've got some rookies who are going to play early and play well. I hear the window thing, but in this league, I think you're either rebuilding, or you're overly optimistic. New England? They're going 16-0. San Francisco? They're rebuilding. And it's never really exactly as it seems."
Last year's Cardinals were a perfect example of offseason assumptions meaning zilch come September. Arizona was confidently touted as a lock to challenge for the NFC crown in 2016, only to stumble toward a disappointing 7-8-1 campaign.
One year later, Palmer -- with his arm "stronger then ever" -- doesn't expect that to happen again, saying: "There is no way for two years in a row that our luck can be as bad as last year. We lost some bizarre games."
