Former Bengals QB Ryan Fitzpatrick on the Carson Palmer situation

Current Bills starting quarterback and former Bengals back up Ryan Fitzpatrick was, and still is, friends with Carson Palmer, who demanded a trade from the Bengals in January and threatened retirement if he didn't get it. 

Fitzpatrick has been in contact with Palmer since his trade demand and obviously knows Mike Brown from his days in Cincinnati, and he knows that both Palmer and Brown are extremely "strong-minded people."

"I've talked to Carson, but I don't really want to talk about his business. But I will say that those are two very strong-minded people, Mr. Brown and Carson," Fitzpatrick said after he and his Bills teammates worked out Tuesday. "It seems like it's definitely at a stalemate right now, and I don't see it going anywhere."

Nothing new, right? We've discussed the stalemate that has existed between Palmer and Brown for months now and we'll likely be reporting on it until the season actually starts (sorry). What is new, though, are Fitzpatrick's thoughts on Carson's future.

"To not see Carson playing next year, that's surprising to me, if that happens that way," Fitzpatrick said. "That's definitely a shock because he loves the game so much. But I know they're both strong-minded, so who knows what's going to happen?"

Fitzpatrick played in Cincinnati in 2007 and 2008, which isn't nearly as long as the eight years that Palmer has been on the roster, and probably not quite long enough to be "Bengalized." I'm assuming that part of the criteria of becoming an NFL player is loving football more than almost anything else. I'm sure, at one point at least, Carson felt that way. It seems, though, that at some point, that was beaten out of him.

I actually feel the exact opposite of Fitzpatrick, in that I would be completely surprised if Palmer does play next year. I'm sure most of you would agree.