The left-handed thrower was not selected in the 2007 NFL draft, but was signed by the New Orleans Saints as an undrafted free agent.
He also played for the Arizona Cardinals, Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League (CFL), Pittsburgh Steelers, and Kansas City Chiefs.
[1] He was also a member of the USA Today All-America Team (Second-team) and three-time Pittsburgh Post-Gazette WPIAL Class AAA Player of the Year.
[citation needed] In his high school senior year, he was named 2002 YMCA Tribune-Review Scholar-Athlete honoree.
[2] In 2002, Palko was selected to play in the U.S. Army All-American Bowl,[3] an all-star game for high school athletes.
He completed 2-of-3 passes for 13 yards on the season, and rushed for an eight-yard touchdown late in Pitt's 2002 Insight Bowl victory over Oregon State.
In a game against the South Florida, Palko threw for a career-high 411 yards, the fifth-highest in school history, and matched a personal best of five touchdowns with no interceptions.
Pittsburgh earned a bid to play in the Fiesta Bowl against the Utah Utes, where Palko was sacked nine times in a 35–7 loss.
Flacco was left to run Pitt's second team and eventually transferred to Division I-AA University of Delaware.
Flacco became the starting quarterback for the Baltimore Ravens in 2008, a year after Palko had been signed and subsequently waived by the Saints.
Palko followed it up with a 267-yard game against Cincinnati, a 277-yard performance against Michigan State, and exceeded the 300-yard mark against The Citadel with 313 yards for four scores.
His ten 300-yard passing games during the season tied a Big East record set by Rutgers' Ryan Hart.
After spending the 2008 NFL season out of football, Palko was signed to a future contract by the Arizona Cardinals on December 30, 2008.
Palko was signed to the Pittsburgh Steelers' practice squad on November 25, 2009, after quarterbacks Ben Roethlisberger and Charlie Batch were injured.
Palko played in the closing minutes of the Kansas City-San Diego game on December 12, 2010 (the Chiefs lost 31–0).
[15] Palko's first starting opportunity with the Chiefs resulted in a 34–3 loss to the Patriots at Gillette Stadium, where he completed 25 of 38 passes for a total of 236 yards and three interceptions.
Orton, who was the starting quarterback for Chicago in 2008, had replaced Palko in the second quarter, but hurt a finger on his throwing hand.
Interim head coach Romeo Crennel benched Palko and said that either Orton or Ricky Stanzi would start the December 18 game against the Green Bay Packers.