Carson Palmer Trade: Raiders Don't Need Palmer To Be an Elite QB

Given his tremendous stubbornness, any team that wanted to trade for Carson Palmer was going to have to make Cincinnati Bengals owner Mike Brown an offer he couldn't refuse.

The Oakland Raiders did just that. And of course, the Oakland Raiders would do just that.

If you're just now joining the party, FOX Sports' Jay Glazer first reported this morning that the Bengals are close to trading Palmer to the Raiders for two draft picks: a first-rounder in 2012 and a conditional pick in a future draft. Glazer would eventually reveal that the latter pick is a second-round pick that could become a first-round pick depending on how Palmer performs.

Needless to say, this is a huge, huge price to pay for a quarterback like Palmer. There was a time when he was one of the best quarterbacks in the league, but that was several years ago. To boot, Palmer hasn't suited up since early January.

The Raiders' hope, obviously, is that Palmer still has something left in the tank. As such, it's no surprise that there's a report out from Yahoo! Sports that Palmer and the Raiders are trying to hammer out a contract extension. The Raiders are going all in on this trade.

It's a gamble, make no mistake about that. If it turns out Palmer doesn't have anything left in the tank, the Silver and Black will have made a trade that could cripple the franchise for years to come. That's the last thing the Raiders want to have happen seeing as how they recently spent seven seasons in the cellar. They need Palmer to pan out.

But in my opinion, the Raiders don't necessarily need Palmer to reclaim his status as one of the league's elite quarterbacks. That would certainly be the case if the Raiders ran a pass-heavy offense, but they don't.

No doubt you may have noticed as much by now. The Raiders have arguably the best running back in the league in Darren McFadden, and Michael Bush is a pretty good back in his own right. They're the reason the Raiders are averaging a league-high 31.7 rushing attempts per game this season, and they are also the reason the Raiders are averaging 5.1 yards per rush.

The success of the running game meant relatively little work for Jason Campbell, who was averaging just over 31 passing attempts per game in his first five starts. His job was to avoid making mistakes as much as it was to make plays.

You have to think that this is a role that a savvy veteran (let's give him that much credit) like Palmer can slide into without much trouble. It will certainly take time for him to learn the offense, but it's not like we're talking about Kerry Collins joining the Indianapolis Colts.

True enough, if this is indeed the case, then it's that much more obvious that the Raiders overpaid for Palmer's talents, such as they are. I'm not about to argue that point.

However, I will argue that the Raiders didn't really make this deal so they could acquire a talented quarterback. They made this deal so they could acquire a safe quarterback. The safest quarterback on the market, in fact.

Believe it or not, the Raiders could have done dumber things.