Raided

Stally's Goal Line Stand

The long term implications of the Palmer
trade will sink the Raiders. (AP)

Coincidentally, Austen's stand relates to my comments last week about Tim Tebow and my stand will relate to Austen's last week about Carson Palmer.  Austen suggested that the Bengals should get what they could for Palmer since it clearly wasn't something that was going to work in Cincy.  Well, the Bengals got a lot more than what they should have for him!

A first round pick in 2012 and a second rounder in 2013, are you kidding!?  Shortly after the passing of Al Davis, this move counters the argument that Davis was to blame for poor personnel decisions in Oakland.  This trade makes no sense.

How the heck the Broncos settled for a sixth-round pick for top receiver Brandon Lloyd and the Bengals snagged two prime picks for a quarterback well past his own prime is beyond me.  Then, again, it's the Raiders.

This pick was mind boggling on several levels.

First of all, Palmer wasn't going to play this year, and with the emergence of Andy Dalton he'd never play again in orange and black.  As Austen said last week, the Bengals should just try to get something and I can't imagine they realistically expected to get even one pick in the first two rounds, let alone two!  Keep in mind the Raiders took a fourth round pick from the Patriots for Randy Moss, so I would have put this at about the same price.

Second of all, Palmer's past his prime.  NFL.com analyst and former Raiders GM Michael Lombardi discussed the trade with Bill Simmons on The B.S. Report and both agreed that Palmer wasn't good last year.  Good quarterbacks find ways to utilize their weapons and win games.  To claim the Bengals were deficient last year would be a cop out and ignore that Palmer wasn't able to efficiently distribute the ball to his options.

Lastly, and most importantly, when you trade a first round pick, you better get a franchise player back.  Palmer's 31 and on the down side of his career.  The Raiders seemed to like Jason Campbell and also, based on my understanding of the system, they used next year's third round pick to take Terrelle Pryor in this year's supplemental draft.  As Lombardi pointed out, they would never have made this trade with a healthy Campbell, so why the heck would they make it now?  If anything, it creates an uncomfortable tension with Campbell at the starting position and proves to Pryor that they don't think he's their future.

This was a poor decision.  The argument that all would be well in Raider Nation once they were released from Davis' questionable decisions is quickly proving false.  This trade will be paid for over the next five years as the team can't build itself at the top of the draft.  It will still be suffering long after the rapidly aging Palmer has moved on from Oakland and continue to putter around below mediocrity in the NFL.

Of course, that said, good job Cincinnati!  A rookie quarterback that's emerging, a fantastic rookie wide receiver, a young defense that's playing well and two big additional picks in the upcoming drafts?  This team is on the fast track to becoming a contender.