NFL Trade Deadline: Mike Brown Hurts Bengals by Making Palmer Situation Personal

The trade deadline looms just days away, and still nothing but silence from the Cincinnati Bengals. We have heard the phrase "this is a business" at every turn. It's time to let Mike Brown in on that secret. 

The NFL is not the place for high drama when it comes to the trade deadline. More often than not, the deadline comes and goes without the scantest of whispers. 

This season offers something more, though. Multiple reports have the Denver Broncos placing star receiver Brandon Lloyd on the trade block. With Tim Tebow taking the reins at starting quarterback, the shuffle on offense makes Lloyd expendable. 

How novel, a franchise that is trying to grow for the future by selling off a star. We hear so often that this is a business, and you can't take things personally. Only, we hear it from the standpoint of athletes. But what about owners?

The Sporting News reports Bengals owner Mike Brown is not about to cave on the trade demands of Carson Palmer, who has yet to make an appearance near the facilities. 

Let me state the obvious. Palmer should, of course, honor his contract. I still take fault with his foregoing the season by quitting the team and his fellow teammates. 

However, this is a business. The only thing that Brown's stubbornness does is negate the value Palmer has as a bona fide starting quarterback. Palmer would attract some pretty valuable draft picks for teams that are desperate for a trustworthy arm. 

Instead, Brown is sticking to his guns to make a point and hash out a personal vendetta against a player who wronged him. The only person he is hurting now is himself. 

The Bengals owner is making this a human issue when it should be all about business. Palmer is a commodity, one that would be in hot demand if he saw fit to shop him around the league. 

As it is, Brown is getting zero on his return with Palmer. He has what amounts to several draft picks lying around, and he won't use them. He will throw them out just to prove a point. 

Meanwhile, his team is aching for an infusion of talent. Five years from now, we will wonder what players Brown could have received by tossing Palmer out to the highest bidder. We will never know, though. 

That's because Brown would rather prove a point than run a football team.