Carson Palmer: Will the Bengals' Veteran Quarterback Be Traded?

What a headache.

Carson Palmer wants out. According to him:

"I have $80 million in the bank. I don't have to play football for money. I'll play it for the love of the game, but that would have to be elsewhere. I'm prepared to live my life."

Owner Mike Brown holds his rights through 2014, and isn't budging.

Marvin Lewis is staying out of it altogether.

So, if the CBA freeze ever thaws out, what would it take to pry Palmer from the Bengals?

At this point, a minor miracle.

First off, they'd need to find his successor in the draft. However, the Bengals appear ready to pass on Blaine Gabbert if he's available at No. 4. Moreover, an early second-rounder (like Andy Dalton) wouldn't be ready out of the gate anyways.

Brown's never wavered, and investing in a quarterback early in the draft would blatantly contradict his rock-steady stance.

A trade would also require a quarterback-deprived suitor who hadn't already addressed the position via the draft. Go ahead and cross a handful of teams off the list.

That same suitor will have to believe that the 31-year-old, whose quarterback rating hasn't topped 86.7 the past four seasons, still has some good years ahead of him.

Mike Brown is renowned for his stubbornness—if a team really wants Palmer, they'll have to overpay. We're probably talking, at minimum, a first-rounder. Go ahead and cross all sane teams off the list.

That leaves a very narrow window of possibility. Palmer appears ready to hit the links, and Brown is ready to go A.J. Smith on the situation.

As of April 17, I'd put the odds of Palmer donning a new uniform in 2011 at less than 10 percent.