Of course I wasn't in Cincinnati Bengals owner Mike Brown's office with Carson Palmer when the whole trade me or I'll retire thing went down, so I couldn't tell you what either Brown's or Palmer's tones were, but I imagine they weren't pleasant. How could they have been pleasant? Carson Palmer told Mike Brown that if he didn't get what he wanted, he'd quit (at least that's what he reportedly said... we've never heard him say otherwise so as far as I'm concerned he said it), how could Brown take that with a smile.
Of course, we also know that Palmer's attempt at forcing his way out of Cincinnati didn't work, at least it hasn't yet. Unfortunately, Palmer made a demand of the most stubborn man in all of football. However, there may be a scenario that Palmer could make a second power play to try and leave Cincinnati for greener pastures, which, at this point, would be pretty much anywhere else.
Picture this: The Bengals go on the clock to make a selection for the fourth overall pick in the 2011 draft and either Blaine Gabbert or Cam Newton is still on the board. Most experts agree, that if the Bengals find themselves in this situation, they will select a quarterback with the No. 4 overall pick in an attempt to rebuild the franchise.
So, now the Bengals would have either Cam Newton or Blaine Gabbert, it doesn't really matter which one for this scenario. Once the lockout comes to an end, let's say in July, so there's time for the players to get some experience in camp, the Bengals will sign their new quarterback to a contract worthy of a No. 4 overall pick, in other words, they'll sign their new quarterback to a Carson Palmerish contract.
If all of this happens, Palmer could force Brown to trade him by affecting his wallet. Imagine the look of surprise on Brown's face if he saw Newton/Gabbert and Palmer show up for camp on the first day. Not only would Brown have to honor the rookie's contract by paying him a ridiculous amount of money, but he'd be forced to pay Palmer the $11.5 million he owes him in 2011. I don't care which owner you are, you can't pay that bill, especially when your wallet is as tightly guarded as Brown's is.
If Palmer decides to play that card, I can't imagine that Brown would be bullheaded enough to not give in and trade him. If he is that bullheaded, then you might as well forget everything you know about Brown because there's not a chance that he isn't a super hero. By day he's Mike Brown, but when the sun goes down, he magically transforms into Pertinacious Man, able to ignore losing massive amounts of money at the expense of holding to a terrible decision.