Carson Palmer: Should the Cincinnati Bengals Trade Their Quarterback?

Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer has requested a trade from the team. Palmer has spent his entire career in Cincinnati and has only been to the postseason twice. Both times, his teams lost in the first round despite winning the division. The Bengals have refused to grant Palmer’s trade request and insist on holding onto the former All-Pro quarterback. This may be a mistake, however, as Palmer’s skills have declined noticeably over the past few years.

Palmer was on the verge of NFL stardom just four years ago. He was right on the next cusp of quarterbacks behind Peyton Manning, Tom Brady and Brett Favre. He was in the class of guys like Donovan McNabb (The decline of McNabb’s career is a whole different story). Palmer was a good quarterback that was about to become a great one.

But then something happened. I don’t know what it is, but Palmer lost something. His decision making became terrible, and his velocity just doesn’t seem to be there anymore.

Palmer still seems to think of himself as an elite quarterback and believes that he has the power to orchestrate a trade. This is an aging quarterback with a losing record and no career playoff wins. You would be hard pressed to name "great" quarterbacks that have had such little success.

Dan Marino, Warren Moon and Dan Fouts may not have won Super Bowls, but they did get their teams to the playoffs more often then not. You can't say the same thing about Carson.

Any fantasy football geek can tell you how quickly Palmer’s stock has fallen. He used to be one of the best fantasy football quarterbacks going. Now he goes undrafted in many fantasy football leagues.

The Bengals should trade Palmer and free themselves of his massive $11 million contract. I am curious to see what head coach would pay him that much money and risk his career on a 31-year-old quarterback that is clearly on the downside of his own.

The Bengals can recoup some draft picks and rebuild over the next season. Palmer can be free of Cincinnati and start throwing his costly interceptions for another team.

This article was published on Sportsfeens.