It’s a story that keeps getting weirder by the moment. The Carson Palmer saga was already odd whenever he was being held prisoner by Mike Brown for demanding a trade out of Cincinnati. It was even more so when the Oakland Raiders went all in on Palmer to lead their team with such a rich draft bounty — a first rounder this next April and a conditional second round choice in 2013 that could become a first rounder. But now, Peter King’s latest column exposes a new level entirely.
King says that when the issue between Bengals owner Mike Brown and Palmer was first explained to him, the Bengals were hoping a team would pony up a second round choice for Palmer eventually so they could let him go at their price. A second rounder. Now, they get two possible first rounders from the Raiders and they have to be wondering how that happened.
Palmer might become the best Raiders quarterback in some time (not hard to do), and the might even make the playoffs. But that doesn’t make this trade a positive one. After all, it was clear the team is going places with Jason Campbell at the helm and that he was settling into a role before his injury. Now the Raiders have to bring Palmer into it after he’s already missed training camp and one third or more of a season.
The Bengals, on the other hand, have to love the fact that the Raiders were desperate enough to spend. And it makes an already odd story that much more interesting.