Soon after the trade was made official, sending Carson Palmer to the Oakland Raiders, the Cincinnati Bengals released an official statement announcing the trade. President Mike Brown believed that Andy Dalton really enabled the team to pull the trigger for the trade:
"Several factors made us believe that trading Carson to Oakland was the best move for the Bengals at this time," said Bengals president Mike Brown. "The principal development has been Andy Dalton, who has shown himself to be one of the best and most exciting young quarterbacks in the NFL. We have a good, young football team, and Andy can be the cornerstone of that team for a long time.
"We also find ourselves rather suddenly in position of being able to receive real value for Carson that can measurably improve our team – which is performing well and is showing real promise for this year and years to come. When this opportunity arose, we felt we could not let it pass, and needed to take a step forward with the football team if we could."
Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis will address the media at 4:45 p.m.