Carson Palmer Not Likely to Return to Cincinnati—Do They Care?

Ryan LesterMay 16, 2011

Carson Palmer sold his house. A few years ago that may have caused quite a commotion in the Bengals’ locker room, but I wonder if there is even a ripple.

First of all, there are bigger fish to fry. As the lockout drags on, players have to start worrying about themselves financially. While they were urged to save money last year, I’m sure not all of the players heeded that advice. As house and car payments continue to go out without money coming back in, Palmer’s situation is far from the minds of his “teammates”.

The Bengals front office prepared themselves with life after Palmer by drafting Andy Dalton, who will coincidentally had to battle Palmer’s brother for the starting gig. They found their Ochocino replacement in A.J. Green, and Dalton is their quarterback of the future.

It’s not exactly like Carson Palmer was dominating statistically either. Sure, he threw for nearly 4,000 yards and 26 touchdowns last year, but he also tossed 20 picks. He only had 3,094 yards and 21 TDs in 2009. Palmer was limited to four games in 2008. 2007 was much like last year. He had a nice yardage total (4,131) with the same touchdown (26) and interception (20) totals. You have to go back to 2006 to get his elite production.

It’s not exactly like they are winning either. They had a nice run in 2009, but that was mainly due to a opportunistic defense and a strong rushing attack led by Cedric Benson, who recently spoke out against the Bengals holding onto Palmer.

“Don’t lock a man down whom you know won’t be happy if he stays. He’s the quarterback. I looked up to him when he was there and I’m sure many of the other guys did. If he’s there and not happy, he’s not going to give us his best, he’s not going to give us that extra time in the film room and weight room because he’s not happy. In a way we’ll all kind of suffer for that…If he’s not happy in Cincinnati, he’s not going to have passion.”

While Benson’s views don’t reflect all of the Bengals players, I’m sure there are plenty that agree with his statement. They’ve moved on. Mike Brown should do the same. Nobody wins if Palmer sits the season out. The same way nobody wins if the lockout washes away the season.

Carson Palmer’s fantasy value is obviously on hold. Unless he has a complete change of heart, he has no value if Cincinnati doesn’t trade him. If he hooks up with Brandon Marshall in Miami, he could have a productive season, though I don’t know that he’ll ever have a year like 2005 or 2006 again.