The one thing we have to realize as well is we may not be in a position to draft #1 or #2 even without Palmer.
We have a lot of talent on this team, and as bad as we were last year, we still started 4-0 with our crap line, fragile QB, and horrible backups.
Palmer has never had the WR corps we have. He throws to TE's too. A QB that can connect to TE's would have given Housler about five more touchdowns given how many times he was running wide open passed the safety.
Our line should be better this season because our rookies have experience, and we should have the chance to get at least one studly lineman in the first couple of rounds, hopefully more.
Also QB's can have bad seasons and see their stock drop. They can get injured. There were some on here proclaiming Tyler Wilson was going to be the #1 pick in 2013. Barkley was a top 10 QB last year. Even up high there are busts.
Hey Wilson's going to be drafted, so he's obviously got something, but I just am not sold on thinking we are going to tank, or thinking next year we'll definitely have a shot at a top QB.
What we know is the best option out there is Palmer. It's the best option besides the draft that has been available for the past few years. Next year the odds are you won't be able to get a 33 year old big arm QB with good numbers to come here.
I also don't fall into the camp that disaster the Raiders have been in since Al Davis went senile, and somehow after his death has gotten worse, and a few bad games where he goated out a loss is indicative of how he'll forever play. Maybe he will. But a few games in a long career doesn't mean that to me. He had very little in Oakland to work with, and would have more here in AZ then he ever had in Cincy. He did still put up decent numbers, and those numbers would have put us in the playoffs last year.
I would love Palmer to be here. Maybe I could think of tanking, but I simply can't when you have guys like Fitz, PP, CC, DWash, and a bunch of other solid guys on this team. Our QB play has been epic bad. Our line play has been epic bad. We have a chance to fix both, and I think if we do, we're poised for a nice season.
There can be three teams from a division into the playoffs, and why not the NFC w(b)est?
Alot of things need to happen. But our QB's have literally been half as effective as the next worst team since Warner retired. We didn't win 6 games, we won 18, mostly because we have significant talent that sometimes would mask our epic gap at QB and OL.
Give me Warmack, another top OL stud, and Palmer, and I feel we have a shot at the playoffs. With him and Stanton as the backup we'd be in a far better place then we've been in at QB since Warner retired. Palmer could play another 5 years if he wanted to. So he's not necessarily just a short term option. A potential medium term option too, that in the NFL 5 years is an eternity.
I also think we don't need to give up a lot, or perhaps anything to get Palmer. If he wants to start, this is the place. The Raiders don't want to pay his salary, and if they trade for Flynn the Raiders are in no position to have a high price for him. We can secure him cheaply. I think something along the lines of a 6th rounder this year, and a conditional 5th or 6th next year depending on whatever they deem appropriate, starts...wins...playoffs..whatever.
I also feel that if Arians is as good as everyone says and how he supposedly can get inside his QB's heads (in a good way) to help them diagnose the problem and fix it, coupled with the potential of our defense, Palmer won't need to press for the victory.
As much as I want the Suns to tank, it's only because it's obvious we suck hard. Getting blown out by 20 points routinely by teams with roughly the same win loss record. But it doesn't mean squat really because there's not much to draft at the top this year. The Suns tried to get guys it didn't work out, and we're sitting 4th worst record.
Maybe if they extended the season to 50 games.
