Those unnamed sources who know everything about everything before you or I say Santa Margarita Catholic High School quarterback stud turned USC star turned Cincinnati Bengals first round pick turned Bengals tackling dummy Carson Palmer has been traded to the Oakland Raiders. If that's true, it's great news to Raider fans because starter Jason Campbell broke his collarbone in Sunday's win over the Cleveland Browns and won't be back for at least six weeks. Palmer, 31, has extensive NFL experience compared to Campbell's backups Kyle Boller and rookie Terrelle Pryor, who have zero to some.
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The No. 1 pick of Cincinnati and the NFL in 2003 asked to be traded in January, something Bengals president Mike Brown
flatly rejected, saying Palmer must honor a contract extension through 2014 he had signed years ago. When the franchise player did not show up for training camp in July, the Bengals placed him on
the reserve list. Starter Andy Dalton is now in contention for NFL rookie of the year honors.
Despite
Brown's pledge not to trade Palmer, the Raiders offering a No. 1 pick
in the 2012 draft changed his mind, according to the nameless sources. Oakland is
also said to have tossed in a conditional 2013 first round draft pick
based on incentives. Besides effectively wiping out those drafts for the
Raiders, with the trade they would be on the hook for $7.44 million of Palmer's remaining salary for the season. Campbell was earning $4.1 million for the entire year.
Neither
the Bengals or Raiders have confirmed the trade rumor. Bengals players
reacted with ho-hum comments, noting Palmer has not been with them on
the way to a 4-2 record under Dalton and opening day starter (and former
Raider) Bruce Gradkowski. “Andy has been our quarterback and Bruce has been here, too,” said another former Raider, linebacker Thomas Howard. “It's more news around the NFL.”
Meanwhile, there is silence in Oakland. It should be noted Raiders head coach Hue
Jackson was a wide receivers
coach in Cincinnati the last time Palmer took the Bengals to the playoffs.
Bill Palmer, the Fresno-born quarterback's father, recognized his son's
potential early, enrolling him before high school in private classes
taught by Orange County QB guru Bob Johnson. The elder Palmer had
planned on moving his family closer to his job on the East Coast, but
decided to commute himself by plane while his son enrolled at Santa
Margarita in Rancho Santa Margarita. The stiff competition in
SoCal would make his son a better quarterback, he figured.
After putting up impressive numbers with the Eagles, Palmer chose to take his arm to USC, where he had mediocre years until his breakout senior season, when he led the Trojans to victory over the University of Iowa in the Orange Bowl. He left USC holding several records, many of which were later wiped out by fellow Orange County phenom (via Mater Dei) Matt Leinart.
The 6-foot-5, 235 lbs. Palmer spent his rookie season with the Bengals on the bench, which was unusual for an overall No. 1 pick. He started 13 games in his second season, when the Bengals finished 8-8. With Palmer at the helm in 2005, the Bengals had their first winning season since 1990, finishing with an 11-5 record and winning their division.
Palmer then signed the contract extension. But the beginning of the end may have happened on Jan. 8, 2006, when a hit by Pittsburgh Steelers defensive tackle Kimo von Qelhoffen in a first round playoff game left Palmer with a knee injury surgeons at the time characterized as possibly career ending. During the off season, the league cited that hit when instituting a new rule preventing low hits on quarterbacks. Ironically, Palmer's presumed new teammate Richard Seymour recently got flagged for that.
The pride of Santa Margarita High returned from his injury in 2007, but he and the Bengals have never quite been the same with Palmer in the huddle. He took a lot of hits over the next three seasons, something some blamed on an ineffective offensive line and others blamed on Palmer's slow legs and lack of heart, raps that have followed him since his days in Orange County.
Something that might strike fear in the rest of the league: the Raiders have a long history of winning with key players given second chances with the franchise.
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.