Chad Henne

[vancelot23]

I guess Seattle might give Garrard a call.

 

[flamingrey]

49ers seems to be clicking on all cylinders on offense right now, so I'm sure their offer is dropping every day.

 

[vancelot23]

I think they'll ride with Smith all year at this point.

 

[futballiscool]

Ten-Point Stance: Players should know better than to criticize injuries - NFL - CBSSports.com Football


"7. The Bengals are softening their position on refusing to trade Carson Palmer. Teams that have inquired fairly recently saying they are no longer getting a flat-out no. They're getting: for the moment, we're not trading him."








I think it's 50/50 he's traded before the deadline.

 

[flamingrey]

Mike Brown was asked yesterday or 2 days ago at an NFL meeting whether he plans on trading Carson before the deadline. His response:

"I don't have a thing to say about that." Though this could mean nothing because he later responded that he doesn't discuss football matters publicly, which we all know to be true. However, it is a big step back from his previously held mantra: "We consider Carson to be retired".

 

[DanBengalfan]

Maybe it depends on who is answering the phone at the front office.

 

[futballiscool]

"50/50 sounds about right."


At this point I think MB has to be concerned about the danger of Palmer showing up the day after the tradeline passes. "Well, I didn't get the trade I was holding out for this season. I'm here to get myself back in the game, collect my 7 million, then traded in the offseason after never playing another down etc."

 

[cincygrad]

Just a hunch, but I think Carson has written off this season - both from a salary and a playing perspective. I think his agent will suggest before the draft that Carson is ready to play again and that MB will have to trade him or have Carson show up. I think MB will happily trade Palmer in the offseason. He'll have won the staring match that kept Palmer out of the league for a year and if things keep moving the way they are currently moving, he'll have an established young player to lead them into the future. Brown can then say that Carson has had a change of heart, but that there is no longer a place for him on the team, so he will be traded.

 

[futballiscool]

Just a hunch, but I think Carson has written off this season - both from a salary and a playing perspective. I think his agent will suggest before the draft that Carson is ready to play again and that MB will have to trade him or have Carson show up. I think MB will happily trade Palmer in the offseason. He'll have won the staring match that kept Palmer out of the league for a year and if things keep moving the way they are currently moving, he'll have an established young player to lead them into the future. Brown can then say that Carson has had a change of heart, but that there is no longer a place for him on the team, so he will be traded.

That could be the case. I think if he wants to play this yr he'll force the issue.

 

[flamingrey]

I believe he wants to play this year, but I don't think he'll force the issue.

 

[cincygrad]

Honestly, I don't think he gains anything from playing this season. If he played this year, it would likely be for a team that wasn't going anywhere and the coach would be a lame duck. If he struggles with a losing team - and he would likely struggle playing for a bad team without a chance to practice much - he would potentially set himself up for being cut when a new coach was hired. Why put bad play on tape? Especially when it might not reflect your talent, but rather a bad situation?

The only 'good' situations that make sense are SF and Seattle. I highly doubt SF is interested given that they are almost a lock for a playoff birth in the NFCW, but not much more with or without Palmer. Why mess up the chemistry. As for Seattle? Maybe - But they already invested a lot in quarterbacks for this season.

 

[vancelot23]

I don't think he'll force the issue either. Like I said, for him to do that, he'd be required to dress for games, be at all practices and meetings, and ostensibly, live in Cincinnati to do so, which his wife might not appreciate. I don't think he wants to put himself through that.

 

[futballiscool]

Honestly, I don't think he gains anything from playing this season. If he played this year, it would likely be for a team that wasn't going anywhere and the coach would be a lame duck. If he struggles with a losing team - and he would likely struggle playing for a bad team without a chance to practice much - he would potentially set himself up for being cut when a new coach was hired. Why put bad play on tape? Especially when it might not reflect your talent, but rather a bad situation?

The only 'good' situations that make sense are SF and Seattle. I highly doubt SF is interested given that they are almost a lock for a playoff birth in the NFCW, but not much more with or without Palmer. Why mess up the chemistry. As for Seattle? Maybe - But they already invested a lot in quarterbacks for this season.

Eh, I can't imagine a 31/32 yr old, 8 season veteran QB taking the entire season off because he's scared he'll play poorly. If he's cut after the yr he'll just look around the leauge and sign with the best fit..

as far as who's interested, the author of the article indicates that "teams" (emphasizing the plural) are telling him the Bengals are changing their tune. I'd be very suprised if the Seahawks aren't one of them.

 

[flamingrey]

Honestly, I don't think he gains anything from playing this season. If he played this year, it would likely be for a team that wasn't going anywhere and the coach would be a lame duck. If he struggles with a losing team - and he would likely struggle playing for a bad team without a chance to practice much - he would potentially set himself up for being cut when a new coach was hired. Why put bad play on tape? Especially when it might not reflect your talent, but rather a bad situation?

The only 'good' situations that make sense are SF and Seattle. I highly doubt SF is interested given that they are almost a lock for a playoff birth in the NFCW, but not much more with or without Palmer. Why mess up the chemistry. As for Seattle? Maybe - But they already invested a lot in quarterbacks for this season.

If he plays this year, it'll be for Seattle or San Francisco, two teams that both have to gain from a new QB. Both teams that can help solidify their chances of making the playoffs. It wouldn't make sense for any other team to trade for him.

I don't think there's a better situation for him than getting out of a contract via being cut going into this coming offseason's FA. He's free to sign anywhere he likes. But this is an unlikely scenario since they'd have invested a high pick for him, but more importantly, any team that would trade for him would still hang onto him despite bad play knowing there's a possibility his struggles are due to the circumstances: no football in almost a year, no training camp, brand new offense, new everything in the middle of a season. I figure coaches, owners, etc tend to be a bit more level-headed than fans who call for heads after a week or two of bad play.

SF's weakest link is at QB. They're seeing Smith play right now, but I doubt anyone believes - though they hope - that it'll be anything but short-lived. However, what I bet is they do BELIEVE Palmer could come in there and consistently play well for a team with a decent OL, very good RB, great TE, and adequate receivers. It would not surprise me that they truly believe a Palmer is their missing piece to be true contenders.

Seattle - They have no major investments at QB. Just a bunch of guys they went after and got fairly cheap. They aren't committed to any of those guys.

Regardless of how any scenario would play out, if nothing else, he'd have 8-10 games under his belt having gotten a feel for the offense (receivers, OL, system, etc) going into next season. Palmer himself really has nothing to lose playing elsewhere midseason or not.

 

[vancelot23]

Unless Alex Smith dies, they're not shopping for Palmer this season.

 

[futballiscool]

Unless Alex Smith dies, they're not shopping for Palmer this season.

I agree for the most part. Smith is playing too well. Unless he gets injured or his level of play absolutley implodes, I can't see there being any interest.

 

[vancelot23]

He has the 3rd highest QB rating in the league, has only thrown 1 INT, and is completing 66% of his passes.

 

[flamingrey]

You're missing one key fact: it's Alex Smith.

I've seen him play the Bengals and I've seen bits and pieces of other games. Based on what I've seen in game time, he isn't what his numbers suggest (let's not forget their anemic offense against us). He's averaging all of 25 passes a game and is on pace for only 3000 yards. It's obvious he's being asked to do little more than manage the game. And that makes sense considering they have a stout defense and a very good RB. They aren't going to allow him to lose them games.

I do believe Seattle has more interest in Palmer since their QB situation is a lot worse, but there is no doubt in my mind SF would pull the trigger as long as Carson's value didn't increase in a bidding war with Seattle.

**Edit: I looked into Smith's numbers further and it looks like the 2nd half of the Philly game 2 weeks ago and last week's Bucs game have heavily skewed his number. So, essentially, he's played very well in 1.5 games. Prior to that his numbers, like the 49ers offense, have been pretty average.

 

[TrinDaddy]

By looking at Smith's numbers it makes me think that Jim Harbaugh is a great coach in the making.

 

[vancelot23]

They're not benching Smith. Harbaugh believes in him, and they're winning. It'd be monumentally stupid.