On Sunday, Bengals owner Mike Brown addressed the league’s new lockout status. He wouldn’t talk about one of the more established challenges the franchise faces -- the future of quarterback Carson Palmer.
“I’m not looking to send messages through the media or to the player or the public about a player,” Brown said, per Joe Reedy of the Cincinnati Enquirer.
Though Reedy sees the comments as a “subtle jab” at Palmer, we’re having trouble spotting the punch. At most, Brown was indirectly chiding the Palmer camp for putting out in the press his desire to get out of town. More realistically, we think Brown said what he meant and meant what he said.
The Bengals have nothing to say about Palmer. It doesn’t mean they won’t trade him or that they won’t call his retirement bluff, which probably isn’t a bluff. Brown simply realizes he gains nothing by saying anything, especially at a time when there’s nothing to be done, given the lockout.