Here’s more info on Jordan Palmer, who will be linking up with Joe Burrow this offseason.
Potential No. 1 pick and Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow is doing pre-combine training with Jordan Palmer.
The Palmer name might give Bengals fans some pause for obvious reasons, as Jordan is indeed Carson’s brother. T. J. Houshmandzadeh is helping too, by the way.
But beyond the last name, Palmer is also one of the most respected quarterback gurus around.
Jordan played four years at UTEP before carving out a lengthy NFL career, even joining the Bengals for a few seasons. Post-football he’s taken up training quarterbacks.
Palmer linking up with a prospect like Burrow (or vice versa) isn’t by chance. In recent years, he’s worked with a long list of top names including Patrick Mahones, Deshaun Watson, Sam Darnold, Josh Allen and Daniel Jones.
The journey took Palmer to big-name places like the Elite 11 and EXOS in California.
As early as 2014, Palmer was already helping players with the pre-draft process while still continuing his NFL career.
“I played in five NFL offenses and learned five systems,” Palmer said in 2014, according to Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune. “I have taken the universal concepts, universal protections and formations that you will find in any NFL offense, and I built an offense. I am installing it, not just to learn the offense, but to teach them how to learn an offense. What you don’t do when you are learning an offense is stare at the playbook and try to memorize it.”
In 2018, Palmer elaborated on how important this process is.
“They’ve played football from fifth grade and can have careers until they’re 35,” Palmer said, according to USA TODAY’s Lorenzo Reyes. “This is the only three months where they can focus on personal development. No school, no teammates, no other distractions. With the right coaching, there’s no reason why they can’t get 20% better.”
This prep Palmer does for players isn’t exclusive to rookies either. Buffalo sent Josh Allen back to him last offseason to work on footwork.
“We respect and trust what Jordan does out there,” Bills head coach Sean McDermott said, according to Sal Maiorana of the Democrat and Chronicle. “I think that relationship is a good one. It’s important that (young players) work with the right people. We’ll be in touch with Jordan and make sure that we’re synced up there as much as possible in terms of terminology, technique, things that we feel like he needs to work on. Josh already went out there equipped with much of that when he left Buffalo.”
Interestingly, Palmer is more concerned with his quarterbacks finding the right team fits as opposed to going as high as possible.
“I don’t care who goes first, I care that these guy go to the right situations,” Palmer said, according to Sam Farmer of the Los Angeles Times. “The end goal is to get them ready for their rookie year. I couldn’t care less where they get drafted. Deshaun Watson was the third quarterback taken last year, and two teams traded up to take quarterbacks other than him. As soon as he was taken by the Houston Texans, which was the goal all along, none of it mattered. He went to the best spot for him.”
That might strike some Bengals fans as a concern, especially after Carson’s experience with the franchise. But as noted in our breakdown, it shouldn’t.
Palmer has also made media appearances in the past and it’s fun to get a good look into his thought process. A good example is when he explained why rookie quarterbacks are suddenly having so much success right away:
If nothing else, it’s nice to get a look at some of the details surrounding Burrow’s current pre-combine training. This one goes far, far beyond the last name and should be an encouraging point for outside observers, nothing more.
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