Remember in the months between January and October here at Cincy Jungle, when you couldn't visit our site without getting some sort of Carson Palmer update? It has now been a full year since Palmer's trade demands and retirement threats became public (can you believe how time flies?), and he is now going into his second season with the Oakland Raiders.
It appears that Carson fled one perceived dysfunctional organization for another that has been in "rebuild mode" for the past decade. Because of the Raiders' late-season collapse, a total house cleaning has taken place in Oakland, including the firing of last year's head coach, and biggest advocate for Palmer, Hue Jackson.
With a new General Manager and new coaching staff, many close to the team have begun to wonder if Palmer's days in Oakland are numbered. New Raiders head coach, Dennis Allen weighed in on the situation.
According to www.profootballtalk.com, Allen proclaimed that Palmer will "absolutely be the Week One starter at quarterback for the Raiders". It's a wise decision for the time-being, seeing as how much they gave up for Palmer, as well as the fact that Jason Campbell will likely be leaving the squad and they have the unproven Terrelle Pryor on the roster.
When interviewed in Hawaii this week on NFL Network, Raiders Pro Bowl defensive tackle Richard Seymour said that he thought that Palmer and the Raiders will be much improved with the benefit of a full offseason together. We'll see if that's the case--it obviously couldn't hurt. However, despite all of the staff turnover in Oakland, it looks as if Bengals fans will still get to look forward to the 2012 game versus the Carson Palmer-led Raiders.