Carson Palmer: 'It's going to be an uphill battle' for Evan Boehm to win starting center job

Since the completion of the NFL Draft, there has been a lot of talk about how fourth round pick Evan Boehm could be the starting center for the Arizona Cardinals in 2016. He has been called "a sneaky good draft pick."

But starting quarterback Carson Palmer is pumping the brakes a bit.

Appearing as a guest on the Doug and Wolf Show on Arizona Sports 98.7, Palmer explained the difficulty Boehm will have winning the job.

There were a couple of reasons. One is the difficulty of the position.

"In this offense, the scheme we run, center is an extremely difficult position to play," Palmer explained. "There's so much communication, so many things that go on at the line of scrimmage within this scheme which make it extremely difficult."

The other reason is there is a guy playing ahead of him in whom the coaches and players trust - A.Q. Shipley.

"A.Q. Shipley has been waiting in the wings for a long time (to start)," Palmer said about Shipley, who has started some in his career and was real close to being the starting center last year coming out of camp. "He played in one game last year and played really well in Philly. That game we ran the ball really effectively. We kind of did whatever we wanted and A.Q. came in and played really well."

Palmer said it will be "an uphill battle" to beat out Shipley.

That said, Palmer is excited about the player Boehm could be. He said outside linebacker Markus Golden, who was Boehm's teammate at Missouri, came up to him and said, "you're going to love that center," something that Palmer loves to hear. Palmer really likes when former opponents or teammates give glowing reviews of his teammates.

Palmer didn't close the door on the possibility of having a rookie center. But with what he said, praising Shipley and explaining the difficulty if the task Boehm will have, it sets the table for fans to be impressed with what the Cards have in Boehm.

"It's going to be tough for him, there's no doubt," Palmer said. "Being a rookie on the offensive line, especially at center, especially in this offense, it's going to be difficult and it's going to be a great battle all through training camp."