Carson Palmer remembers drinking beer with ‘cool dude’ Kliff Kingsbury

Sep 29, 2019, 12:48 PM | Updated: 6:48 pm

(Left: Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images; Right- Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

Arizona Sports

GLENDALE, Ariz. — Arizona Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury’s first memory of Carson Palmer is being intimidated by a God-like quarterback at the 2003 Senior Bowl.

Carson Palmer’s first memory of Kliff Kingsbury is having a beer with a “cool dude” — before the quarterbacks hit the field at the pre-draft event.

“You go into this room when you check in and there’s a handful of other guys there: (quarterbacks) Kyle Boller, Chris Simms, Kliff, myself, ” Palmer said Sunday before the retired quarterback was inducted into the Cardinals Ring of Honor. “They put you in a room where there’s beer on tap. I think Kliff and I were the only two like, ‘You know, it’s there for a reason, right?’

“And everybody else was like, ‘Oh, no it’s a test. There’s cameras, there’s hidden cameras.’ Kliff and I, I think, would get along really well away from the game, away from football.”

Coming out of college, Palmer was coming off a Heisman-winning season having completed 63% of his passes for 3,942 yards and 33 touchdowns.

Kingsbury had quite a few accolades himself. At Texas Tech in 2002, he threw for 5,017 yards and 45 touchdowns.

Still, he went into Senior Bowl preparation in awe of Palmer, who was about to become the Cincinnati Bengals’ pick to kick off the 2003 NFL Draft.

“I remember walking out the first day and it’s just like this Greek god throwing lightening bolts. Like, this is not going to be a good week for me, next to him,” Kingsbury said before this season began.

“Phenomenal talent. I mean, like, if God made a quarterback, how it’s supposed to look, how he’s supposed to throw, how he’s supposed to drop, great charisma, personality.”