Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Bengals Are Right To Call Carson Palmer's Bluff


Here is something I thought I'd never type: the Cincinnati Bengals front office (all three people) are doing the right thing when it comes to the Carson Palmer situation.

To get you caught up, Carson Palmer wants out of Cincinnati so badly that he is threatening to retire if the team doesn't trade him. The Bengals' public stance is they are not going to deal Palmer and that he's their quarterback.

While that may frustrate Bengals fans, they are doing the right thing.

That doesn't mean they can never trade him. That's not what I'm saying. I'm saying that the Bengals would be smart to not cave into Palmer's demands right now and looking desperate. If they were aggressively looking to deal him now, not only would it open the floodgates for any other moody Bengal to write his own ticket out of town, but the Bengals lose trade leverage.

Sitting on this situation would be best.

Cincinnati can look for deals behind the scenes. There are plenty of teams in need of a quarterback (Vikings, Cardinals, Redskins, Titans, Niners, Seahawks, Panthers, Dolphins and Bills) and not that many names out there to be had. Several of those teams would be interested. Deal him for something of worth.

Now if a deal can't be done, then fine. Just sit on him. If he quits, he quits. That would mean your highest paid player doesn't want his money ... which looks good to the cheap Bengals. I know that the team gets nothing back in terms of talent, but letting him walk could pay off down the road.

I mean, if the Bengals panic and deal Palmer ... then what do you think Chad Ochocinco will do? If the Bengals don't give in to their franchise quarterback, everyone else knows they have a slim shot to work their way out.

Plus Bengal fans must remind themselves that there is some labor discord out there. If the lockout extends deep into the summer, then (a) you aren't even able to make trades, (b) another team would most likely pass on a deal since they'd have limited time to work Palmer into their playbood and (c) the Bengals would have a tough time getting their new QB ready.

To me, it makes sense for the Bengals to play this game of chicken with Palmer. After all, they have a lot less to lose.

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