Underrated Bengals left tackle Andrew Whitworth texts with Carson Palmer plenty, but it’s usually about babies. Whitworth supports his friend, but keeps business separate from their personal lives and doesn’t get into Palmer’s trade request.
Whitworth isn’t surprised by the Palmer’s desire to leave town, though.
“I knew he was really frustrated and knew it had been a tough year for him. It had to be,” Whitworth told Kevin Goheen of the Cincinnati Enquirer. “That’s the nature of a quarterback but I think in a year in which he was so excited about the potential of our team and for everything to go so badly was tough on him.”
Whitworth indicated that the frustrations of the Bengals fanbase could be playing a role in Palmer’s feelings.
“Then it didn’t help that there were – and you say Cincinnati fans but the people who do stuff like they did to him aren’t real fans. You’ve got your real fans that will love and support you no matter what but having stuff thrown in his yard and stuff like that, just stuff that is uncalled for,” Whitworth said.
“There is stuff like that I’m sure hurt him and put him in a place where he’s not just hurt but worried about his family and people coming to his house. You worry about all that for him but in the end I can feel his frustrations so I wasn’t exactly surprised but I was concerned.”
There is a school of thought that Palmer is dead serious about making his trade request very uncomfortable for the Bengals. A potential work stoppage, ironically, could help the Bengals here.
If there aren’t any transactions from March until August, the Bengals and Palmer may be stuck together no matter how serious Palmer is.