Carson Palmer to Oakland Raiders: Why This Trade Is a Terrible Mistake

Carson Palmer is now the new quarterback of the Oakland Raiders.

There was no way the Bengals’ owner, Mike Brown, would trade his ex-franchise quarterback—unless a team was crazy enough to send him two first-round draft picks.

Now, which team could be that insane?

Al Davis might be dead, but this Oakland Raiders team hasn’t changed.

The Oakland Raiders are out of Draft Picks

The Oakland Raiders were already without their second, third and fourth-round draft pick. They will now send the Cincinnati Bengals their first-round draft pick of 2012 and a condition first-round draft pick in 2013. Therefore, the Raiders will barely get any players from the draft in 2012.

Basically, the Oakland Raiders will once again need to go to free agency to fill their holes in the offseason. When will the Raiders understand that you build a team through the draft, not through free agency? Don’t they remember when they got Randy Moss from the Minnesota Vikings?

This team won’t have any quality draft picks for the next two years, which will negatively impact the team for several years down the road.

Carson Palmer is not an Elite Quarterback

Carson Palmer is not an elite quarterback—have a look at his statistics and you will get what I mean.

He played 97 games for the Cincinnati Bengals. He has thrown 100 interceptions and had two seasons with at least 20 interceptions. He only had one season with more than 30 touchdowns.

Still, Palmer was working all that time with Chad Ochocinco and T.J. Houshmandzadeh, two of the best wide receivers in the NFL.

In 2009, Palmer was ranked No. 16 in term of passer rating. In front of him were Jason Campbell, Kyle Orton and Joe Flacco.

In 2010, Palmer was ranked No. 20 in term of passer rating. Jason Campbell, Jay Cutler, Kyle Orton, Jon Kitna, David Garrard, Josh Freeman and Matt Cassel were all in front of him.

Actually, the only solid year Palmer had was back in 2005.

Yes—six years ago.

Bad Timing

How can Palmer be ready to play? He doesn’t know the playbook and he hasn't had a snap for several months. Yes, he trained—but training by yourself and being on the practice field are two separate things.

I remember all the analysts saying that Peyton Manning couldn’t start on Week 1 for the Colts. The reason was obvious. Manning didn’t practice a single time in the training camp. Now, how come Palmer can start on a team he doesn’t even know?

What's more, Carson Palmer will never be on the same page as his teammates. This team embraced Hue Jackson’ s philosophy and is playing with extra motivation since the death of Al Davis.

Carson Palmer will never get in that mental state, since he will get there at mid-season.

The Positive Aspect

There aren’t only negative aspects. From 2004 to 2006, Hue Jackson worked in Cincinnati with Carson Palmer. The two know each other.

But this is the only positive aspect!

The game plan for the Raiders will probably rely on the run and on minimizing the mistakes. However, I wonder if you really need a $6-million-dollar quarterback to minimize the mistakes. They will sometimes want Palmer to take shots downfield, but people are questioning his arm strength.

I wonder what’s worse—drafting JaMarcus Russell, or trading two first-round draft picks for Carson Palmer?