Heisman Trophy Winners: Top 20 NFL careers of all time

At the ripe age of 35, Carson Palmer might just be playing the best football of his professional career as a member of the Arizona Cardinals. The former 2002 Heisman winner has gotten better with age and might be on the verge of his first Super Bowl victory.

Rarely do we see Heisman winners these days stay in college for four or five seasons, but Palmer did, and needed to in order to win the Heisman Trophy in 2002. His numbers at USC that season were remarkable as he passed for 3,942 yards and 33 touchdowns with 10 interceptions — improving drastically on his numbers from the previous three seasons.

Like many Heisman-winning quarterbacks, Palmer was drafted No. 1 overall in 2003 by the Cincinnati Bengals, but didn’t take a single snap during his rookie season, backing up veteran quarterback Jon Kitna. He then took the reigns in 2004, starting 13 games as the Bengals went 8-8 and Palmer finished the season with 2,897 yards, 18 touchdowns and 18 picks.

Palmer improved over the next three years, starting every game and passing for no less than 3,800 yards and 26 touchdowns. It’s almost ridiculous to think that Palmer tore his ACL and MCL in the Bengals’ playoff game in the 2005 season against the Pittsburgh Steelers and still came back to start every game the next season and even ended up making Pro Bowl — his second straight.

In 2008, it was a shoulder injury that prevented him from starting 12 games and his season was ended early. After some disappointing seasons, Carson wanted out of Cincinnati and requested the Bengals trade him. They didn’t comply and he claimed he would retire if they didn’t do him that favor.

Stubbornness by the Bengals resulted in the disgruntled Plamer refusing to play for Cincinnati in 2011 and they drafted Andy Dalton to replace him, but kept the veteran on the roster. After nine weeks, the Raiders had lost their starting quarterback and contacted the Bengals for a trade and they decided to let the quarterback go.

Palmer started two years with Oakland before finding a rhythm with Arizona in 2013, despite re-injuring his knee in 2014. He currently has 39,368 passing yards and 255 touchdowns with a career 81-75 record.

Next: 15. Billy Sims, Oklahoma