Brampton's Palmer primed for breakout

His fourth season with Chargers may be historic

- JOE CALLAGHAN

Two seasons ago, Joshua Palmer put up 769 receiving yards.

How does history arrive? Whatever way it wants, really. When we least expect it, mostly. For Joshua Palmer, it came this week with the click of a mouse and a change of font colour.

The Los Angeles Chargers’ design and social team put together a graphic of the wide receiving corps and, with a flash of what they probably call Bolt Yellow, made Palmer’s name stand out from the rest, which were all in white. And just like that, a Canadian was starting an NFL season as his team’s top receiver.

The 2024 NFL campaign will bring pageantry and pandemonium, that’s guaranteed. Potentially, it will bring a lot more history Palmer’s way, too. His fourth season in the league shapes up to be huge both personally and for a Chargers team that underwent an off-season revolution with Jim Harbaugh’s magnetic force as its new middle.

How has Palmer prepared for it all? “I spent a lot of time at the mosque, Alhamdulillah, just reflecting and getting closer to Allah. A lot of prayer, a lot of lessons and I was working on my spirit mostly. My spirit and my mind. I’m definitely a more spiritual person now,” the 24-year-old says.

Three summers ago, we caught up with Palmer and his clan ahead of the draft to chart a journey from a Brampton high school to the NFL. Still a Tennessee student then, he spoke of “Star Wars” as a guiding light. Now his ideas of spirituality comes from somewhere deeper, more defined — and defining. It’s glib to hear this and simply label it maturity.

Even as he begins this process of stepping out of giant Charger shadows, Palmer is already deified in quintessentially L.A. ways.

He has a crispy taco named after him. He’s a fashion icon, too. Now he’s the team’s leading receiver. Learning to become an adult in this league and that city was already tricky enough. But he’s managing.