
Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer isn’t saying anything publicly about his plans for the 2011 season, but he’s sending signals that he’ll retire unless the Bengals trade him. The Bengals, in turn, are insisting that they’ll make him retire, rather than play him.
But if that all makes it sound like Palmer absolutely won’t play, that’s not necessarily the case.
Mike Florio reported on Versus’ NBC SportsTalk that Palmer has spent the last three weeks working out with former NFL quarterback Ken O’Brien. Presumably, Palmer wouldn’t be doing drills with a former NFL quarterback unless he thought he had some time as an NFL quarterback ahead of him.
And so Palmer is at least keeping his options open, staying ready to play in case the opportunity arises. Now we’ll see whether the Bengals reconsider their stance that they’d rather he retire than play for another team.
If the Bengals do reconsider, there are bound to be some teams interested in a quarterback who threw for 3,970 yards and 26 touchdowns last season, especially considering that that quarterback is getting himself ready to play.
UPDATE: Florio and Cris Collinsworth discussed Palmer on the show.
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