On WFAN: Carson Palmer Explains Why He Likes Special Teams Coordinators Becoming Head Coaches

Many Giants fans aren't quite sure what to make of the reported Joe Judge hire, but former NFL quarterback Carson Palmer says one thing they shouldn't be concerned about is Judge's background as a special teams coordinator. 

In an appearance Wednesday on WFAN's "Boomer and Gio" show, Palmer said he loves seeing special teams coaches hired as head coaches, explaining they tend to have a stronger grasp of game and clock management.

The Giants are reportedly hiring Judge, but no official announcement has yet been made. He spent the past eight seasons coaching the Patriots' special teams and added wide receivers coach to his responsibilities this season.

"So many of these offensive coordinators that are calling plays and then get elevated to the head coaching job, or defensive coordinators -- even worse -- when they get that gig, they've never had to call timeouts. It's always on the head coach and the quarterback," said Palmer, a three-time Pro Bowl quarterback who played for the Bengals, Raiders and Cardinals. "But special teams coaches are so in tune with clock management and, 'Hey, do we go for this on fourth down, or do we punt the ball and pin them back in their own territory?' There's so many little things that special teams coaches understand with clock -- which, as we know, in this game right now, it's so important to be able to manage the clock.

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"I'm all for special teams coaches getting that kind of gig," Palmer added. "They also are very rah-rah. And not that you need that in the NFL, but there's a great energy level that special teams coaches seem to have. And then when they get elevated to the head coaching job, that's what they know. They're high energy. They've got to get guys that don't really want to play special teams. They've got to motivate them to go down and make a tackle on kickoff. Or guys that are making X amount of dollars that think they're not special teams players, they can find ways to motivate those guys. So I actually like the hire."

ON DARNOLD AND JONES

Palmer was asked to give his assessment of New York's two young quarterbacks, Sam Darnold of the Jets and Daniel Jones of the Giants.

He said of Darnold: "You saw him improve. I thought when he went down with mono, it was just like the worst thing that could happen aside from, like, a catastrophic knee injury or elbow injury. I thought that was terrible timing. They were kind of getting going, and then you lose the only real player, other than Le'Veon Bell, they have on offense, and everything went downhill. Coaching things start to change, players start to lose confidence, and then you get Sam back and they went ... 6-2. That's improvement. That's what you want to see from these young quarterbacks."

Palmer said he also really likes what he's seen from Jones.

"I liked the pick," he said. "I still think there's more potential in him than there is in Dwayne Haskins, and I know that was flip-flopped a year and a half ago at this time. I like his game. He's more athletic than you would think he is. It kind of freaks me out he just looks so much like Eli in every facet, but he's so much more athletic than Eli and so much more dynamic. I think he's got a little bit more arm. You saw some touch balls, you saw some accuracy, but you also saw some rookie issues and some first-year issues, that those things get fixed. And as long as they surround him with the right guys up top with a coordinator and a QB coach and he continues to develop -- he's already had Eli in his ear, which is ideal."

To listen to Boomer and Gio's full interview with Palmer, click on the audio player above.