Five Teams That Need Carson Palmer

Tired of the losing ways of the Bengals, Cincinnati QB Carson Palmer has come out over the last few weeks to state he will not return as a Bengal. The team can either trade him (or release him) or he will retire.

According to WCPO-TV in Cincinnati, Palmer recently told a friend that he would “never set foot in Paul Brown Stadium again,” and that he has “$80 million in the bank. I don’t have to play football for money. I’ll play it for the love of the game but that would have to be elsewhere. I’m prepared to live my life.”

Bragging or bluffing, it doesn’t look like Palmer will be back in the stripes again.

Palmer’s agent, David Dunn, released this statement in the wake of those comments: “Because of the lack of success that Carson and the Bengals have experienced together, Carson strongly feels that a separation between him and the Bengals would be in the best interest of both parties.”

Thanks to a poor team and numerous injuries, Palmer has dropped from a Pro Bowl caliber QB to a frustrated guy looking for a new start. And with 3 years left on his contract it’s up to Cincy to try to get something in return for him. Carson doesn’t appear to be bluffing and it would be crazy not to get a bit of talent in exchange for him rather than just let him retire to prove your point.

Despite the injuries and age of Palmer (he’ll be 32 this year, ancient in the NFL), the former USC Trojan easily has a few more years under his belt and can provide a great service to a few teams out there. Here’s a look at five such teams.

5. San Francisco 49ers

The Niners are just the biggest enigma when it comes to QBs over the last few years. They just can’t seem to get it right and never seem to pull the trigger on a deal that would help this team get over the hump. Despite the antics of coach Mike Singletary, the Niners have been flirting with a winning season for a few years now. The key missing piece is a QB and we all know without that piece you’re not going far.

The Niners would be wise to grab Palmer and new head coach Jim Harbaugh knows what it takes to be a successful QB in the NFL. He was one and he took that experience to Stanford to teach Andrew Luck how to be the best in the land.

Niners, do your fan base a favor. Grab a good, experience QB to help this team win the very winnable NFC West.

4. Oakland Raiders

You can’t mention QB problems without talking about the Raiders. Like the Buffalo Bills, this team just can’t seem to grab a good QB and it seems like no one really has an interest in taking the job. Poor management in the name of Al Davis and a rotation of coaches didn’t hurt the Raiders from having a great year last year. Having a great QB in their backfield kept this team out of the playoffs.

They went 8-8 (great for them!) and did that rotating the mediocre duo of Jason Campbell and Bruce Gradkowski into the game.

Five of those games were lost by 8 points or less and I believe if they had a top-tier QB like Palmer in there they could have pulled out a few more wins.

3. Denver Broncos

The Tim Tebow Experiment is still in the developing stages and it will be curious how long the Broncos and new boss John Elway hold onto Tebow to see if he develops into a Pro Bowl QB.

Personally, I think the Tebow draft was the best thing Denver has done since bringing in Champ Bailey because it brought a lost excitement back to the team.

Whether he’s a starting QB in the Super Bowl anytime soon is a different matter. The Broncos are rebuilding with a new coach and have tons of holes to fill.  But they don’t have a good enough squad to prop up Tebow while he learns. And I just don’t ever see Kyle Orton holding up a Super Bowl trophy during his career, so….

New coach John Fox has stated that Orton will head into the season as the starter.  Smart move but anyone not feel that Palmer is an upgrade over Orton? Nah, didn’t think so.

2. Tennessee Titans

The Tennessee Titans have lost coach Jeff Fisher and have stated they will let Vince Young look for work elsewhere. That leaves them with aging, and I mean aging, Kerry Collins at the helm.

First off, congrats to Kerry Collins for slowly and silently putting up Hall of Fame numbers. He won’t get in, but they are impressive to say the least. The 38-year old has tossed 40441 yards passing and 206 TDs. Not bad, not bad at all.

But the future of the Titans is not Collins for long. 38-years old is pushing it and the Titans have had a hard time getting stability at their QB spot since the great Steve McNair left so upgrading to a much younger Palmer makes a ton of sense here.

1. Seattle Seahawks

Another team with an aging QB battling injuries. While it doesn’t seem much sense to replace Matt Hasselbeck with Palmer on a team with an non-existent running game, the fact remains that Hasselbeck’s contract is up in Seattle and backup Charlie Whitehurst has not yet proven to be the man to take over.

Matt has also battle injuries over the last 3 years that have made him miss 13 games.  Despite one year injured, 2008, Palmer has started all his games in Cincy.

Palmer may have an ace in his sleeve with Seahawks coach Pete Carroll who coached Carson at USC when the QB won the Heisman in 2002.  Reuniting the two makes sense in that the ‘Hawks need a steady QB to kick start their offense and their division, the NFC West, is easily the weakest division in the NFL.

Add in Palmer and this team could repeat as NFC West champs but with a winning record.