Roto World's Evan Silva has found one of the lost seeing stones. Maybe he stole it from the White Wizard (who sleeps with his eyes open like a freak), or he may have stumbled upon it while touring old castles in... wherever they have old castles. Regardless of where he found it, Silva has been using it to make predictions on the future of the NFL free agent quarterback market, and this is what it told him.
Palmer is a different player than the quarterback who came out of USC in 2003. The 31-year-old's mobility has been all but eliminated since a 2006 ACL and MCL tear with meniscus damage, and Palmer's arm strength was adversely affected by ligament and tendon tears in his right (throwing) elbow in 2008. Palmer's passes tend to flutter, especially in the intermediate to deep range. He's had two winning seasons in his career. Palmer's talent is now more that of a top-20 quarterback than top-10, and ideally he would be protected by a top-notch line plus running game. He has four years and $54.5 million left on a contract signed in 2005.
Silva does admit that Bengals owner Mike Brown has stated (over and over and over again) that Palmer isn't going anywhere but back on the field at Paul Brown Stadium as a Bengal or to the early bird special at Golden Corral when he retires early. However, he still goes out on a limb to say that he believes that Palmer will be traded to the Seahawks for an "early to mid-round pick" because, get this, it's in their best interest.
This particular seeing stone is a master of the obvious.
Silva's Yoda-type powers didn't stop reading the future of the Bengals quarterback situation quite yet. Oh no, he also had the amazing ability to predict which experienced free agent quarterback the Bengals will sign once the lockout comes to an end.
Donovan McNabb.
McNabb entered the league in 1999 as an elite running quarterback, developed under Andy Reid into a six-time Pro Bowl passer, and bottomed out on the bench in Washington last season. Now going on 35, it's reasonable to wonder if McNabb has much left. Never an especially accurate thrower, McNabb's completion rates have dipped in four straight years, and his conditioning became an issue under Mike Shanahan in D.C. McNabb is likely to enter the 2011 quarterback market without many suitors. He's never been outside a West Coast offense, is in obvious physical decline, and will be viewed as no more than a one-year stopgap.
Silva reasons that McNabb will be released into free agency when the lockout ends and the Minnesota Vikings may have been thinking about signing him, but have probably decided against it now that they've drafted Christian Ponder, and that McNabb will need to latch onto a team that's running a west coast offense.
I'm going to have to call out Silva's seeing stone on this one too. McNabb may have declining physical skills and maybe he doesn't have much left, but I don't think that McNabb believes he's done. I highly doubt he'll be willing to accept the kind of one-year deal that Mike Brown would offer him. McNabb won't be in Cincinnati in 2011 unless he's the starter in 2012 and probably 2013 too.
I don't agree with Silva on either of the predictions that he's made. I think Palmer will either be a Bengal in 2011 or he'll retire (he'll retire) and I highly doubt the Bengals will be signing McNabb to mentor Andy Dalton this year. From now on, Silva should be more careful with his seeing stone, they haven't all been accounted for and you never know who may be watching.