Cincinnati Bengals Agree to Trade QB Carson Palmer to Raiders

The Cincinnati Bengals have agreed to deal disgruntled quarterback Carson Palmer to the Oakland Raiders in exchange for two possible first-rounds picks.

The first first-round pick is in the 2012 draft, and the other is a conditional first-round pick in the 2013 draft. If Oakland wins a playoff game this season then the Bengals would get a first-round pick in 2013, but if the Raiders don’t win a play-off contest Cincy would instead receive a second-round pick in 2013.

Palmer had requested to be traded from a Bengals franchise that has only two winning records over the last 20 years, but when Cincinnati Owner Mike Brown denied his request Palmer elected to retire and so the stand-off between the two sides began.

Brown repeatedly insisted he wouldn’t consider Palmer’s request to be traded as he didn’t want to reward Palmer for holding out. However, the offer of two possible first-rounder’s on the trading deadline proved to be enough to pry the 31-year-old quarterback away.

The 4-2 Raiders became desperate for a quarterback after starting QB Jason Campbell went down with a broken collarbone during Sundays win over the Cleveland Browns. Oakland was left with perennial back-up Kyle Boller as the team’s starter.

Palmer will be reunited with a familiar face in Oakland as head coach Hue Jackson was the offensive coordinator at USC from 1997-2000 and a Bengals assistant from 2004-06, working with the receivers.  Palmer won the Heisman Trophy at Southern California after the 2002 season and was the first overall pick by Cincinnati the following NFL draft.