NFL Trade Rumors: Odds Peyton Hillis, Carson Palmer and Others Are Traded

The NFL trade deadline is Tuesday, and while just a week ago there wasn't much to talk about, now there are a number of higher-profile players who are reportedly drawing teams' attention.

In the following slideshow, I detail four of these players and how likely it is we will see them suiting up for a new team after this week.

Quarterback Carson Palmer

Quasi-Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer has been surrounded by trade rumors since the start of 2011, with him requesting that owner Mike Brown move him to another team.

Brown has opposed this publicly, stating that he wants Palmer to either honor the contract he signed with the team or follow through with his threats to retire. Though Palmer has been in touch with Brown as recently as last week, it doesn't seem to have done his cause any good.

This must be distressing for the quarterback, because there are a number of teams that could seemingly benefit from his services, most pressingly the Oakland Raiders.

The Raiders lost starting quarterback Jason Campbell for the season after he suffered a broken collarbone in his team's Week 6 win over the Cleveland Browns and don't have adequate depth to replace him from within the organization.

As soon as the news of Campbell's injury became official, Oakland got in touch with Brown and are reportedly "trying hard" to acquire Palmer, but as of this morning, it seems these overtures are mostly falling upon deaf ears.

Don't expect Palmer to be traded, regardless of what is offered to Brown and the Bengals in return.

Quarterback Kyle Orton

The Denver Broncos are apparently through with quarterback Kyle Orton as their starter, and they may be done with him on their roster as well. After benching him for backup Tim Tebow for the foreseeable future, it seems the team is willing to trade him.

The fact that they're willing to ship him to divisional rival Oakland Raiders, who lost starting quarterback Jason Campbell for the season with a broken collarbone, just highlights how done the Broncos are with Orton, who has done nothing but unimpress in his five games this season.

Initially, it was reported that Orton himself had requested the trade, but ESPN's Mark Schlereth has since stated that this is not the case; instead, it appears that any trade for Orton would be the brainchild of the Broncos organization and the interested team, not the quarterback.

Orton is a very smart choice for the Raiders, who have a large and immediate need for an established quarterback to take over the offense. The only problem the Raiders will have in trying to acquire any quarterback on the trade market is their 2012 draft pick situation.

Without second, third, fourth and seventh-round picks in the upcoming draft, they have little leverage to give to teams looking for value in the shorter-term. This could hinder their chances to grab Orton, or any other quarterback on the trading block.

That doesn't mean, however, that the Broncos won't be able to move Orton to any other team. It's just hard to guess which other organization would need him, considering how he's performed thus far this season.

Running Back Peyton Hillis

Despite a 2010 performance that made Cleveland Browns running back Peyton Hillis one of the darlings of the league, his name keeps popping up when discussing possible trades.

Hillis has made it clear that he's unhappy with his current contract situation, after other young Browns players received their extensions while he's still finishing his rookie-year contract without a new deal.

Some believed that he didn't miss his team's game against the Miami Dolphins because of having strep throat, but that it was a carefully-crafted protest by himself and agent Kennard McGuire in response to the player's contract situation.

Regardless, it's clear that he's not very happy with the Browns organization, and it's quite possible that the team doesn't plan on extending his contract either this year or after the season is over. Depending on how truly tense things have become between Hillis and the Browns, he could be on the trading block.

A number of teams would instantly benefit from Hillis' presence; however, he has one clear nod against him, a hamstring injury suffered in Sunday's game against the Oakland Raiders.

The injury kept him on the bench for most of the day. At first, it was reported that it was a coaching decision to keep him off the field, but it was later made clear that the injury, and not a dispute with the staff, that saw him sidelined.

This injury certainly harms Hillis' trade value as he would not be able to play immediately for his new team, and, depending on its severity, could keep him from passing a physical, killing any trade.

Safety Chris Harris

After the Chicago Bears benched safeties Chris Harris and Brandon Merriweather, choosing instead to try to repair its struggling secondary by replacing them with Major Wright and Chris Conte, it was clear that at least one of these players wouldn't take too kindly to the move.

And that appears to be the case with Harris. It was reported earlier that he would be asking for a trade, and now he's done just that, via an announcement by his agent Albert Elias.

This is Harris' second season with the Bears, after being acquired via trade in the spring of 2010 from the Carolina Panthers.

Now the seven-year veteran has seen his play quality decline after suffering from a hamstring injury that has cost him three games and from which he returned only to allow a 73-yard touchdown by Lions wide receiver Calvin Johnson in the Bears' Week 5 loss.

That poor play, likely assisted by Harris not being at full health, is what led to his benching. While last month he was hoping for a contract extension from the team that would allow him to retire a Bear, it looks like his sentiments have turned with his demotion.

There are a number of teams that could benefit from his services, and it shouldn't be to difficult for Harris to find a new home. Like receiver Brandon Lloyd, he's not just on the trading block but is one of the players guaranteed to be moved before Tuesday's trade deadline.