The Cardinals have the league’s most complicated quarterback situation.

On the surface, the team has followed the formula preferred by general managers for years. There is an established starter (Carson Palmer), an experienced backup (Drew Stanton) and a prospect in training wheels (Logan Thomas).

However, there are serious questions surrounding each of Arizona’s signal-callers. Palmer is coming off the second ACL injury of his career and is likely to miss OTAs and mini camps (or at least be extremely limited). Stanton went 5-2 as a starter in games where he played at least one quarter, but he completed just 55 percent of his passes (a lower completion percentage than Geno Smith, E.J. Manuel and Charlie Whitehurst). Thomas is so far away from contributing that when Palmer and Stanton went down last season, the Cardinals signed Ryan Lindley off San Diego’s practice squad and rushed him straight into the starter’s role.

So even though each of these three quarterbacks seems well suited for the role he will be asked to fill, it is hard to shake the feeling the Cardinals need to add another passer.

As for the caliber of quarterback Arizona should add, that depends on the health of Palmer. At the NFL Combine, head coach Bruce Arians indicated the early signs are promising.

“He’s doing extremely well,” Arians said. “He’s working his tail off. He’s at least three or four weeks ahead of schedule. He keeps talking about mini camp and being ready to go. We’ll see how he progresses before we decide whether or not we’ll allow him to do anything this spring. But we’re really pleased with where he’s at.”

With Palmer likely to be back for training camp (at the latest) and less than four months removed from signing a three-year, $50 million extension, it is unlikely the Cardinals will bring in someone to challenge for the starting role. Instead, Arizona figures to bring in another quarterback to fight for the second or third spot on the depth chart, providing more insurance at the game’s most important position.

Cardinals scouts got an up-close look at all the quarterback prospects at the NFL Combine, but the draft may not be the best avenue for fixing Arizona’s tricky quarterback situation. The team cannot afford to spend a high pick on the position — there are more pressing needs at linebacker and on the interior offensive line — and a later pick would only net another developmental QB (and the Cardinals already have one of those in Thomas).

Any thought of the Cardinals trading up for Marcus Mariota should be dismissed after hearing Arians talk about drafting quarterbacks from gimmicky offenses like Oregon’s.

“Sometimes you’re evaluating a quarterback who’s never called a play in a huddle and never used a snap count,” Arians said. “They hold up a card on the sideline and he kicks his foot and throws the ball. That ain’t playing quarterback. There’s no leadership involved there. Now, there might be leadership on the bench. But when you get them now and give them verbiage and they have to spit the verbiage out, use a snap count, change the snap count, they’re light years behind.”

The best route for the Cardinals may be free agency. Although there are no starting-caliber quarterbacks expected to hit the market, there are a few QBs who could fortify Arizona’s depth chart.

Tarvaris Jackson (Seattle), Christian Ponder (Minnesota), Case Keenum (Houston) and Scott Tolzien (Green Bay) could all push Stanton for the backup position. If Arizona opts to leave Stanton as the unchallenged No. 2 and replace Thomas with a more experienced third-stringer, Josh Johnson (San Francisco), Tyler Thigpen (Cleveland) and Jordan Palmer (Tennessee) are all possibilities. Jordan, of course, is Carson’s younger brother.

Or the Cardinals could leave the depth chart as-is and hope injuries do not devastate the QB position as they did a season ago. But the “what are the odds of that happening again?” strategy rarely pays dividends, a claim the Rams and Titans can readily verify.

Want to talk more about Arizona’s quarterback conundrum? Join Michael Lombardo for his weekly NFL Chat on Friday at 2pm EST. But you do not have to wait until then … you can ask your question now!