NFL offseason thread

I think it was a No. 1 and a No. 2, although it was frequently reported as "two first-rounders". I think the second one was conditional.

 

He is and I'm guessing this is only because they're figuring out how to get rid of him and minimize the backlash. I'm guessing he's cut either a couple days before the draft or a couple days after the draft, depending on when their off-season workouts are scheduled.

Maybe they're holding out some hope that they can get a seventh-round pick for him, but I can't imagine any team trading a pick for him. I might have felt otherwise if Al Davis was still breathing.

 

Palmer and the Raiders was a forced marriage from the start. It's going to take years to undo what was done during Al Davis' declining years.

 

They were going to release him. Cardinals could have waited, so the Raiders were lucky to get anything at all.

 

There were rumors before the draft a couple years ago that the Niners wanted Carson Palmer and were offering a second-round pick for him and the Bengals balked. I remember thinking there was no way a team was going to give up a No. 1 for Palmer, but leave it to the Raiders to prove me wrong...

It's one thing to criticize a trade in hindsight, but everybody knew the Raiders trade for Palmer was idiotic at the time and everybody was proven correct.

 

Exactly. The mistake wasn't dealing him away now, it was paying so much for him in the first place.

 

I'm pretty sure that trade happened in the week after Al died, when everyone else in the organization was planning the state funeral and Hue Jackson just kind of commandeered the GM chair and the phone.

 

Ok, so maybe the Raiders overpaid for Palmer. But he seemed to fit the Raider mold... California guy, big arm, etc. And they needed an upgrade from Jason Campbell and Bruce Gradkowski (sp?) or whomever.

Still, you give up a first and a second? Or two firsts? Whatever. And then 18 months later you dump him like yesterday's garbage for a seventh-round pick because (1) you've soured on him that quickly and/or (2) you can't give anyone to offer anything of value in return? Terrible personnel moves.

Maybe that explains why they haven't sniffed the playoffs since after the 2002 season with Rich Gannon. And, yes, I know, it's the same organization that once used the No. 1 overall pick on JaMarcus Russell and then cut him three years later with absolutely nothing to show for it.

If you are going to shell out major money and resources (picks, players, etc.) to get a guy, try to at least convince your fan base that you know what you are doing and you are committed to making him successful. As it looks now, the Raiders basically gave away a first and a second for a seventh-rounder.

And, on top of that squandering of precious draft picks, you then had to go out and give away another pick to get Matt Flynn, who remains unproven. You've just lengthened your rebuilding process by at least two years. That franchise just makes me shake my head.

Sure, Denver went 4-12 two years ago and Kansas City went 2-14 last season. But those franchises won't stay in the shitter forever. Oakland? Who knows?

 

You don't hang on to Palmer just because you gave up too much for him. The original deal was absurd. This isn't, if they're convinced that Flynn is a better option. (And while Flynn is unproven, he played very well when given the opportunity in GB, and did well in preseason with Seattle. He didn't lose the job there -- Russell Wilson won it.)

You can't keep a disgruntled former starter on the bench simply because you overpaid for him in the first place. Learn your lesson and move on. The picks are gone.

 

Palmer also had a $13 million salary coming in 2013 and had refused to restructure. The Raiders already have more than $30 million in dead money and are going to have enough trouble fielding an SEC-level team because of it; with Palmer eating that much more of the cap, they were not only going to be a competitive joke, they were going to be risking their players' health.

 

It's easy to see the Palmer deal as a bad one now. And yeah, they overpaid considering today's market. But Davis died Oct. 8 and they were (a surprising) 4-2 when Jason Campbell went down and even after a putrid performance by Kyle Boller in the next game, the team felt Palmer would do at least as well as Campbell which would have gotten them into the playoffs. Instead, Palmer went 4-5 and the team still only missed the playoffs by a game.
Figure the sentiment to return the team to the playoffs as tribute to Davis mixed with not seeing Palmer throw a pick into double coverage in over a year and Hue Jackson knowing the team had no shot at the playoffs with Boller, the trade is more understandable, though no less short-sighted.

 

Yeah, I think it's fair to say the Raiders knew at the time they were overpaying and decided to go for it anyway, figuring that the potential upside may be worth it. It didn't work out and proved costly, but there were circumstances that made it at least partially defensible at the time.