Carson Palmer to Raiders: Is Post-Al Davis Oakland Panicking?

The news that the Oakland Raiders had successfully wrested away Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer surprised for a number of reasons. First, there's the fact that Bengals owner Mike Brown finally found the right price for the hottest trade commodity not on the market in 2011, and there's the draft picks that the Raiders gave up to acquire him.

The Raiders gave up their 2012 first-round pick and a conditional 2013 pick that could be as high as the first round, and now only have fifth and sixth round picks in 2012 plus compensatory picks for Nnamdi Asomugha, Zach Miller and Robert Gallery available to them.

The two picks seem like a high price to pay for the 31-year-old Palmer, whose best seasons may be behind him, and it makes one think that the Raiders panicked in response to their starting quarterback Jason Campbell being lost for at least six weeks with a broken collarbone.

Nevertheless, the Raiders were right to panic. The team extended an offer to former Jacksonville Jaguar David Garrard earlier this week, but that possibility vanished just as quickly as it arrived with Garrard needing back surgery.

That left them with the grim possibility of having to rely on backup Kyle Boller to head the team for the remainder of the season, effectively nullifying all of the momentum they've built up over the last six weeks. And there are fewer situations more desperate in the NFL than a team forced to start Boller.

It is surprising how willing the Raiders have been to mortgage their future for short-term rewards, but upon examination of Oakland's roster, those lost draft picks won't have too much impact as long as the team can retain its starters through next season.

Teams build via smartly utilizing the draft, but they don't magically disintegrate when they give up draft picks. While desperation was clearly at play with this trade, the Raiders were smart to be desperate.

They're fielding one of their most fierce squads in seasons, and the playoffs are in reach for the first time since they went to the Super Bowl in 2002. What they had in Campbell—a caretaker quarterback capable of winning games and managing leads—they feel they're getting in Palmer.

Oakland is a run-first offense this year, which makes sense considering the talent of star back Darren McFadden, but that doesn't mean that Boller would have done the team any favors by lining up under center.

What the Raiders are looking for is the best way to reach as many wins as possible, this season. Again, a good reason they were wise to panic, as without Campbell, their odds to snag those wins dropped exponentially without a solid replacement.

Desperation is the mother of invention; it helped them find a way to force the hand of the intractable Brown by giving him an offer he couldn't pass up, and it could help them navigate their bare-bones 2012 draft situation as well.

For all the ridicule the Raiders organization has received over the years, those in charge of the team know what they're doing. If they had to give up yet more draft picks to build the team they envision, so be it.