NFL Trade Speculation: 5 Reasons Why Carson Palmer Is the Next Jake Delhomme

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Bengals owner Mike Brown doesn't want to let Carson Palmer leave the Bengals, but he should change his mind.

Jake Delhomme recently left the Carolina Panthers and faded into irrelevancy with the Cleveland Browns.

There are similarities between Palmer and Delhomme that may indicate that Palmer is the next Jake Delhomme.

Here are a few reasons why.

Interceptions

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Granted, in his final season in Carolina, Delhomme threw only eight touchdowns compared to his 18 interceptions, and Carson Palmer was more productive.

Past that, however, these two quarterbacks threw interceptions in bunches on their way out for their respective teams.

Palmer suffered from poor decision making and couldn't keep the ball in his team's hands, while Delhomme's declining accuracy crippled him.

Both quarterbacks threw alarming totals of interceptions, and a parallel can be drawn between the turnovers themselves.

Both Had a Recent Year in Which They Missed a Bunch of Games

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In 2008, Carson Palmer played a whopping four games, posting three touchdowns as opposed to four interceptions.

Palmer missed time with an elbow injury, showing that he has an injury history, and as recent as 2008, the quarterback couldn't stay on the field.

Delhomme, in comparison, missed almost all of 2007 with, oddly enough, an elbow injury.

The Brown and Bengal quarterbacks have similar injury histories, and are similar in many other ways.

Former Success

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Both of these quarterbacks were pretty successful at one point, too.

Delhomme was an above-average starter for a number of years, having posted 70 touchdowns to 42 interceptions from 2004-2006.

Palmer was even better from 2005-2007, boasting 86 touchdowns to 46 interceptions over the three year span.

Delhomme went from a top 10 quarterback to an afterthought, and Palmer is well on his way to such.

Both Blew Up in the Playoffs

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Jake Delhomme had an awful showing in the playoffs, when he threw five interceptions against the Arizona Cardinals, proving that he was no longer capable of leading the Panthers.

Palmer had a lower-scale blowup, but still finished 18 for 36 without many yards, showing that he was incapable of leading the team deep into the playoffs.

Delhomme's playoff blow-up marked the beginning of the end for him, and Palmer's blow-up was just a preview to the Bengals 4-12 season that followed.

Both Are Over 30

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Recent history is not typically on the side of over-30 athletes, and in Jake Delhomme's case, it certainly wasn't.

Delhomme faded out of everyone's mind by midseason, and Carson Palmer may be that guy next year.

Palmer is over 30 and isn't getting any younger, and we don't know just how much more he has left in the tank.

Cleveland assumed that Delhomme had some competitiveness left in him, and they were certainly wrong.