Oakland Raiders’ Matt Leinart happy to be reunited with Carson Palmer – NFL News
Oakland Raiders’ quarterback, Matt Leinart, who has just joined the team after signing a one-year deal, has said that he is happy to be reunited with Carson Palmer, who has also played college football for the University of Southern California.
Palmer joined the Raiders last year and Leinart will serve as the former’s backup during the upcoming National Football League (NFL) season.
While talking to KSPN-AM, Leinart said of getting reunited with Palmer:
"We have remained close over the years. He is a guy I have always looked up to, and it's awesome 10 years later to be reunited."
Palmer is more experienced than Leinart as the former started his professional NFL career in 2003, while the latter made his NFL debut in 2006.
After his rookie season in which he did not play any game, Palmer has been playing as the regular starter in the league. At first, he played for the Cincinnati Bengals and spent the last season with Raiders.
As for Leinart, he is still struggling to gain the status of a regular starter. He has played for the Arizona Cardinals and the Houston Texans before, but was unable to become regular starter for any of the team.
He is also expected to serve as a backup quarterback at Oakland. Leinart is satisfied with his role, but he will continue to improve his performance to earn the starting role.
He said:
"I still have the mindset and desire to play."
The quarterback added:
"I am obviously still competitive and I hate to be on the sideline sitting and watching ... I know what I can do."
Leinart’s career growth has been hampered by a couple of shoulder injuries. He injured his shoulder while playing for the Cards and sustained another injury last year. Overall, he has received three-season ending injuries in his short career.
Leinart was of the view that he was unfortunate to have received those injuries because, he thought, he was playing really well and settling into a perfect rhythm.
He said:
“Coming off the injury, it was a bummer because when I got my shot I was feeling good and playing well, it was such an unlucky break.”
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