NFL great Carson Palmer on NFL draft, hot housing market and CBD

Retired NFL player Carson Palmer sat down with Yahoo Finance's Brian Sozzi to discuss his recent venture into investing, including his focus on the CBD product market. He also discusses his venture into the real estate market, and discusses the upcoming NFL draft.

Video transcript

BRIAN SOZZI: Carson Palmer, good to see you. Thanks for joining Yahoo Finance. You are the latest sports star to throw their hat in the ring in the CBD industry craze. Why are you getting involved with it?

CARSON PALMER: Well, I got done playing in the NFL for 15 years and had multiple knee surgeries and really kind of surgeries on just about every limb. And I got done playing, and I was in pain. I was in pain the last handful of years of my career.

I played until I think I was 36, 37. In NFL years, that's really old, unfortunately. But just being in constant pain or constantly uncomfortable-- I got so numb to it, because that is just the life of a football player, especially in their 30s. And I got done playing, and I didn't like it anymore. And I wasn't getting paid to be sore anymore.

So I've just been constantly looking for an alternative to painkillers and opioid-- Vicodin, OxyContin, all the pills you can take-- toradol shots. You know, I tried everything. And I didn't like the repercussions of all of those things. And finding CBD and finding Level Select CBD has been an absolute game changer for me.

It is not bad for you. It's a topical. I have the roll-on here in my office. I use it all the time. I use it twice a day. I also have a lotion dispenser that I put on my knees before I go to bed. So there's a lot of different applications to it.

I happen to like the roll-on best. But it's just enabled me to continue-- I have four kids, and I chase my kids around, and play sports, and I'm training my son to be a quarterback right now. He loves football. And I've got two other kids in lacrosse. And I just-- I want to be active, I want to stay involved, I want to be the cool dad.

And being in pain and uncomfortable is not an easy way to be a cool dad. I use Level Select CBD to take that edge off the pain in my knee or my neck, whatever it is that day. And like I said, it's been an absolute game-changer for me.

BRIAN SOZZI: So, obviously, I have not played in the NFL. I have not played football in some time. I was tag football, but I know how I'm starting to feel as I get older after a hard core workout. I mean, do you still feel the aches and pains of playing in the NFL? You retired, what, in 2017?

CARSON PALMER: I did, yeah. And absolutely. I mean, I've got a hip that at some point I'm going to have to have replaced. But I just feel like at 41 years old, I'm too old to say I'm going in for a hip replacement. So I use Level Select CBD on my hip twice a day, first thing in the morning, and then probably late to early afternoon.

But CBD is not just for ex-NFL quarterbacks. It is for anybody that's uncomfortable or can't do the things they still want to do. Their mind may want to go on a hike, or for a bike ride, or jump in the ocean, but if you physically don't feel like doing it because you're in pain, you're missing out on so much. And so Level Select CBD is something that you don't have to be a retired athlete to use. You can be somebody that is just uncomfortable and wants to cut the edge of that pain off.

It's not going to take it away forever. This is not you know magic medicine where if you need a hip replacement, you probably have something fundamentally wrong inside that hip socket. And that's going to need to be fixed at some point or replaced at some point. But Level Select CBD is something that can get you through the days up until you actually go in for that surgery and have that hip replacement.

BRIAN SOZZI: We see-- we often see in our world of finance here, CBD or cannabis through the prism of cannabis stocks. Are you invested in any companies? Are you playing these stocks? Are you trading anything?

CARSON PALMER: I invested in this company right here. My buddy started it-- an old golfing buddy of mine. And he wanted me to be the spokesman for it. And I said, well, let me try it. As soon as I tried it, I wrote a check, and I invested in the company. I believe in it that much.

And it's not-- I get issues now not from football, but from sitting down here, looking at my phone, and seeing what the stock market's doing, checking Instagram. Before I know it, my neck is creeky. This is one of the best things you can put on a sore neck-- for those people that are staring at a computer screen all day or their smartphone, whatever it is. But yes, I-- this is the only CBD company I've actually invested in.

But I'm always looking for something and what the next thing is. And I think this is the next big thing is Level Select CBD.

BRIAN SOZZI: Carson, I grew up watching you play. And you retired. And I was looking back and preparing for this, where's Carson Palmer been since his retirement? What have you been up to?

CARSON PALMER: I moved to Ketchum, Idaho. I've always loved coming here. And after living in a big metropolis cities for so many years and enjoying it, but wanting something different, I moved to Ketchum, Idaho. And I've always been really, really involved in real estate as a passive investor for the most part of my football career, because I was so focused on football I didn't have the time.

But now I'm into real estate development. I'm loving it. I've got a couple of projects on my desk as we speak right now. And you know, that's what my passion is right now outside my kids and my family.

BRIAN SOZZI: How do you spot a good investment?

CARSON PALMER: Dirt-- I mean, good dirt, typically something that makes that dirt unique, something that it has that no other dirt around it has is where we first-- my partner and I-- first look. And then we try to decide what the best use is. Currently in the markets we're looking at, there's a drastic desire for multifamily and affordable housing.

And so that's where our focus has been the last three years. And we've got a handful of projects we have not brought to market yet. They're not currently ready to bring to market, but we're getting close on a couple. And that's been our focus.

BRIAN SOZZI: You think that's all pandemic-driven-- a lot of folks just moving out of the city during the pandemic and just changing the way they live?

CARSON PALMER: A lot of it is. I mean, being here in Idaho in mid-August, everybody-- all my buddies in the Bay Area who, you know, they weren't going to start school that year-- half of the West Coast was on fire, and there's ashes every time they walk outside their house on their cars. You know, there was a lot of folks trying to leave major metropolis cities and get to places like Idaho.

And I'm just happy I got here before the rush happened, because now it's bananas. I mean, there is very little inventory. There is a ton of demand. And there's a lot of people that want to get out of California, and Seattle, and Portland. And those are all feeding cities for our community here.

BRIAN SOZZI: I imagine in the course of your career, you've gotten to meet some really interesting people. Is there anyone you've looked to for investing advice that has given-- you they have given you good, helpful advice?

CARSON PALMER: Yeah, you know, I went to USC in Los Angeles. And you know, when I was being recruited out of high school, they kept talking about USC is a family, a family, a family. Then I went on to play in the NFL and got done with my playing career, and like we were just talking about getting involved in real estate and the developmental side of real estate, you know, it's one phone call away to some USC Trojan somewhere.

And I've had a lot of mentors, Bob Best being somebody I lean on quite a bit who's a real estate developer with Weststar Associates in Southern California. But even Bob, like, he's the first-- you got to call this guy, and you've got to call this guy, and you've got to call this guy, and I've got this great architect, and this structural engineer. And you know, I've been really, really fortunate in that sense to be able to lean on my USC Trojan alumni base.

And people I don't know, never met-- you know, I've been really fortunate to be connected and networked into a different group of people in the same space that I'm in. And it's been-- typically, you pay a lawyer for some of the advice that I've been able to get for free. So I'm really appreciative of all the people I've been able to reach out-- all the USC Trojans that have had so much success in the spaces that I've been looking at, just to give me advice, and talk me through certain situations, and be there as a sounding board for me.

BRIAN SOZZI: We can't have a conversation with you without talking some football. The NFL Draft is coming up. And the top three spots might be-- might go to really some all-star, or really phenomenal, QBs. What's your advice to them?

CARSON PALMER: Well, I mean, you look at Trevor Lawrence, who's probably going to the Jacksonville Jaguars-- what a perfect spot for him-- I mean, you know, a great organization, Shahid Khan is a phenomenal owner. He's willing to do what it takes. He's willing to spend the money.

He's brought in Urban Meyer to be the head coach and let Urban come in and design a program really from the ground up. And starting with the sports science to the way they take care of their athletes, the way they prepare their athletes, the way they coach, the way they train, all of those things-- so you look at Trevor Lawrence going to a great situation. And then the Jets with the second pick, that's not as strong of a situation for a young quarterback.

I mean, we just saw Sam Darnold who also went to USC go to the New York Jets and pretty much be labeled as a bust, who he's not. I mean, he is not a bust. He's a phenomenal player. He just was at the wrong place at the wrong time.

So you're looking at the Jets, they probably have to draft a quarterback at number 2, and it might be Zach Wilson from BYU. And then Justin Fields is kind of the guy that I feel like-- there's been a lot of distractors to what the 49ers are going to do. But it sure looks really lined up well for them to take the quarterback of their future in Justin Fields from Ohio State. So I think you're right. I think it's a top-heavy quarterback draft.

BRIAN SOZZI: Yeah, my Jets need some serious help. We will leave that conversation for a different time. Carson Palmer, good to see you. We'll talk to you soon.

CARSON PALMER: Awesome. Thanks, Brian. I appreciate it. Thanks for having me on.

BRIAN SOZZI: Thank you.