Oakland Raiders Acquire Bengals’ Carson Palmer for 2 1st round picks
Al Davis is gone, but that’s not going to stop the Raiders from being aggressive with their first round picks. Today the Bengals have traded Carson Palmer to the Oakland Raiders for a first round pick in 2012 and a conditional first round pick in 2013, according to profootballtalk.com.
Jay Glazer has reported that the 2013 pick is a 2nd round pick that with conditions can become a first round pick.
The Raiders are one of the few teams that are willing to move first round picks in exchange for players having done so recently with both Richard Seymour and now Carson Palmer. This is a move that could really push the Raiders to the playoffs. The Raiders have a very solid group of players along both the offense and defensive lines as well as at the skill positions. Darrius Heywar-Beyhas come on strong this year nearly totaling his receiving yards from the prior season. Bey has 345 yards this year (366 yards the year before) and Darren Mcfadden is one of the best running backs in the entire league. He is averaging 5.5 yards per carry and has over 600 yards rushing already this season in 6 games, he has chipped in another 150 through the air.
The real question is, was the move worth it?
Carson Palmer has sat out all year and many have wondered if he was already past his prime, or whether or not he could ever truly recover from the knee injury he suffered vs the Pittsburgh Steelers in the playoffs a few seasons ago. From 2005 to 2o07, Palmer averaged over 7 yards per attempt. The past three seasons Palmer has averaged 5.7, 6.6 and 6.8 yards per pass attempts. Is Palmer in football shape? Can he learn the offense fast enough to help the Bengals this year? What does this mean for Terrelle Pryor? Palmer will only turn 32 this year which means his age isn’t a huge deterrence because he is not a mobile quarterback and quarterbacks can often play well into their mid to late thirties.
On the other hand this gives the team flexibility at the quarterback position that they haven’t had in a long, long time. If the Raiders make the playoffs this year I think fans will consider the move well worth it-and with this move (if Palmer can pick up the offense quickly), they have a good chance. The Chargers don’t look unstoppable, and the A.F.C. periphery teams are down. The Patriots are good, but there are questions about the Bills, Jets, Titans, and Texans which puts the Raiders right in the hunt for the wildcard if they can’t win the division.
For the Bengals this is a huge coup. The stubborn owner backed off his won’t trade players stance because the Raiders arguably over-paid. The Bengals have also seemingly found their franchise quarterback with the surprisingly good play of Andy Dalton this year. Now the Bengals will have two first round picks next year to boslter their offense to give Andy Dalton even more weapons and could now use a luxury pick on a running back if one was available they liked, it really gives the team flexibility and poses them to be be competitive in their division for the foreseeable future.
According to profootballtalk, Palmer is under contract through 2014, at base salaries of $11.5 million, $11.5 million, $13 million, and $14 million. The prorated 2011 salary is $7.44 million; as of October 4, the Raiders had $6.1 million in cap space for 2011.
For draft junkies the question this brings up is if Carson Palmer is worth as much as two first round picks what might the Rams, Panthers, Vikings or a team that won’t draft Andrew Luck first overall be able to get for Luck?
All right Raiders and Bengals fans let me hear from you. What are your thoughts on the move?