The Carson Show

When this NFL season comes to the close, the MVP will probably go to someone named Brady or Rodgers or maybe even Stafford. But the big winner of the 2011 NFL season, barring some unforeseen miracle, is Carson Palmer. In the history of pro football(and even all of sports, for that matter), the "I'm going to retire if I don't get what I want" ploy has failed miserably almost every time. Brett Favre "retired" in 2007(because he said he felt pressured into making a decision by the front office) then un-retired, then had to arrive at training camp and make an awkward fiasco at training camp, organize a trade to the Jets, then pull the same shenanigans in New York to get what he ultimately wanted: a spot on Minnesota's roster so that he could show the Packers what they're missing.

Chad Ochocinco tried using the same strategy to get himself out of Cincinnati and, even after the Bengals were allegedly offered a Godfather deal of two first round picks from Washington, it still took him having to nosedive his career for three more years to get the Bengals to trade him. It took Palmer all of eight months to get out of the Charmed City. And not only did he get out of Dodge, he was able to be shipped back home to California to start on an up-and-coming potential playoff team that plays in one of the worst divisions in football. No more Ravens. No more Steelers. Goodbye, Ray Lewis and Troy Polamalu. Hello, Andy Studebaker and Shaun Phillips. Palmer got what he wanted because, unlike Ocho and Favre and those before him, he remained quiet and vigilant and patiently waited for opportunity to come knocking. That opportunity knocked as soon as Jason Campbell's collarbone snapped and David Garrard's back suddenly needed surgery. Many QB's will throw for more yards and touchdowns than Carson Palmer, but none of them can say they went from starting the season on their couch to being one of the 12 starting QB's in the playoffs(assuming Palmer's presence doesn't completely submarine Oakland's playoff hopes). Much like he's done his entire career, Palmer stood in the pocket, waited for the best chance while the pressure was coming, and found a way to score big.

Now, Palmer may be the big winner, but his new squad ultimately are the big losers in this blockbuster trade. Palmer hadn't thrown a pass since early January and the Raiders still saw fit to trade, not one, but two first-round picks for a guy who hasn't been to the Pro Bowl since 2006 and has been above average at best ever since. Two first-round picks can get you a lot in the NFL, including someone a hell of a lot better than Carson Palmer. Maybe it doesn't get you a franchise QB(because teams with a franchise QB already in place aren't going to take the risk of going back to the drawing board by dealing their signal caller midseason for a couple of unknown picks. Although, if I was Andy Reid, and I could get out of Mike Vick's albatross contract and score two first round picks for a guy who may have been a one-year wonder, I'd do that trade in a heartbeat.), but teams have given up higher quality players for much less. Trading this year's first rounder looks even more ridiculous when you consider Oakland already used two other picks in this draft to secure two other QB's. Last April, they traded this year's fourth for Jason Campbell. Then, they used this year's third round pick in the supplemental draft to bring in wayward Buckeye Terrelle Pryor. Now, we'll never fully know how those two trades would have benefited the Raiders because both men's progress is stunted by the presence of Oakland's new golden boy. I understand that Oakland needed someone competent to keep them afloat and the possibility of 10 weeks of Kyle Boller or Todd Bouman as your starting QB is scary for any team with legit playoff aspirations, but the Bengals took the Raiders' desperation and completely suckered them. Unless Palmer plays the rest of his career like his Heisman-winning senior season at USC, the Raiders got the short end of this deal.

If there's one bright side for Oakland, though, it's that they traded two first round picks......to the Bengals. With the exception of this season(when the Bengals look to have a real find in potential ROTY A.J. Green), the Bengals have stunk up the first round for the better part of the last decade. Here's a re-cap of the Bengals' first-round picks since 2000 to help make my point.

2000: 4th overall, WR Peter Warrick(currently out of the NFL but was a bust beforehand)

2001: 4th overall, DE Justin Smith(decent pass-rusher, currently with San Francisco)

2002: 10th overall, OT Levi Jones(out of the NFL. Guys taken after him? Albert Haynesworth and Ed Reed)

2003: 1st overall, QB Carson Palmer(two-time Pro Bowler, now a Raider)

2004: 26th overall, RB Chris Perry (huge bust, out of the NFL)

2005: 17th overall, DE/LB Dave Pollack(career ended early by neck injury, currently host of the Palmer and Pollack Show on ESPN, which is harder to watch than his pro career.)

2006: 24th overall, CB Jonathan Joesph (decent cover corner, left Bengals to sign with Texans)

2007: 18th overall, CB Leon Hall (another decent corner, but not Pro Bowl caliber)

2008: 8th overall, LB Keith Rivers(oft-injured tackling machine, taken ahead of guys like Jerod Mayo and Chris Johnson)

2009: 6th overall, OT Andre Smith(has bust written all over his routinely out-of-shape body)

2010: 21st overall, TE Jermaine Gresham(emerging young TE)

10 first round picks, only one of which made the Pro Bowl(Palmer). Four of the 10 are out of the NFL already. Three of the 10, including Palmer, make their living elsewhere. If you were going to put two future first round picks in anyone's hands and not worry about it coming back to bite you, those hands would belong to Mike Brown. Yes, Brown looks like he's hit on A.J. Green and Palmer's successor, Andy Dalton, but the jury is still out on them. Charles Rogers had a decent start to his rookie season, too, and he's working drive-thru at Hardee's right now.

In essence, this is why Palmer emerges from this whole ordeal victorious. In a trade in which one team gave up too many draft picks to a team that can't draft to save its life, the only person to actually better themselves was Palmer. He fought a system that had a record of Goldberg proportions and won. Will he succeed in Oakland? That remains to be seen. Right now, he has the running game in Darren McFadden he hadn't had since the Rudi Johnson days in Cincinatti. He has a young and blossoming receiving core from Jacoby Ford to Denarius Moore to even overpaid Darrius Heyward-Bey, and his offensive line, while not stellar, is an upgrade compared to the patchwork unit he had with the Bengals. With the first-place Chargers having to travel across the country to play the Jets and Palmer possibly getting his first start against the lowly Chiefs this Sunday, Palmer could be sitting atop the AFC West by this time next week.

In the matter of one quick hard takedown to the ground, Carson Palmer managed to get everything he never openly asked for. He's out of Cincinnati and into a new change of scenery. Time will tell, however, whether he should have been careful what he quietly wished for. For now, Palmer starts the season 1-0.