They also didn't want to pay him his contract. If you believe the rumors to be true they didn't want to pay him and were going to cut him if he didn't restructure.
They wanted to restructure his contract into one with 0 guaranteed money.
He's still a quality qb. Gets the ball out. Accurate. Strong arm that still can throw deep easily. The Raiders were a far worse team than they appeared with Carson Palmer at the helm, which is saying a lot when they still only won 4 games.
We got a helluva deal.
Now what that means for us is of course uncertain. We think we upgraded the line. I agree with that assessment. But it's all a guess until we actually play some regular season games. We added depth to our rb's and picked up a very intriguing receiver, plus a blocking TE.
He does have the most weapon talent around him he's ever had.
Even though the Raiders are in full rebuild mode, Carson might have 2-6 years left. They could have rebuilt around him. They chose not to. They felt he was making too much money. They felt it was better to go younger.
Their loss is our gain. If we trade Sherman to the chiefs, hopefully when all is said an done in effect we traded a CB and FB that were never going to make the team (last year and this year) for Carson Palmer and a 7th round pick. (or now known as D.C. Jefferson).
The Raiders defense sucked. On offense, they had an injured McFadden, Denarius Moore who definitely has talent...but hasn't put it together, and Brandon Myers.
So it's a bit like if Carson Palmer's best offensive players on the Cardinals were Beanie Wells, Michael Floyd (last year style not future years), and had to throw to the TE as their TE lead their team in catches (I would say Housler, but he doesn't have the numbers). At best maybe swap Floyd for Roberts. Overall that's not much. Their line sucked as well.
No QB could have done squat with the Raiders last year.
The Raiders are looking like they are going to be horrible next year. They lost Brandon Myers. Even though Heyward-Bey sucked, he's gone. Who are their receivers Denarius Moore and Derek Hagan? They picked up Kasa and Rivera (TE's) in the draft. Then in the 7th round finally took a receiver, Brice Butler. They did take a RB in the 6th round Latavius Murray.
So Matt Flynn has his work cut out for him. It would not surprise me if they are a 1=2 win team this year. They focused on defense for the draft. Most people though Hayden was a reach, but he definitely has talent. Lots of people were high on Sio Moore.
Oh they also addressed their line with Menelik Watson.
So overall the Raiders got a couple of picks people liked, but it wasn't a great draft, and did little to really improve their offense next year. I guess you COULD call it a great draft compared to what the Raiders usually do seeing how it didn't flat out suck. Wilson might be a good pick, but it's probably not going to impact them this year. They also had to give up their 2nd rounder for the Carson Palmer trade. No, not the trade bringing him to us, but to finish off the deal that sent Palmer to THEM. Funny how he wasn't even on the team and they still had yet to finish paying off that debt.
It's also of note that Reggie McKenzie isn't the guy who brought in Carson Palmer. So that might have played a role in it as well.
Overall we took advantage of a team that was willing to have a fire sale on a good QB, and didn't get scared off by all the Richard Gere gerbil story nonsense that some people attached to Carson Palmer.
Is he our future? Hard to say. But he was by far our best option and I think he has an excellent shot of having a resurgence. Of course again, we have to see some games first. This is the best coaching fit he's been in with the best talent he's had, he's very experienced, and he's hungry.