Carson Palmer Rumors: Releasing Veteran QB Won’t Resolve Raiders’ Issues

To say that Oakland Raiders quarterback Carson Palmer was mediocre at times last season would be extremely fair, but there's absolutely no way the veteran signal-caller is to blame for the Silver and Black's pitiful 4-12 campaign.

Even one of the NFL's elite passers would have struggled to make a playoff contender of Oakland in 2012.

But according to the NFL Network's Michael Fabiano, via Ian Rapoport, the Raiders are in serious talks to acquire Seattle Seahawks quarterback Matt Flynn, a move that would instantly make Palmer expendable.



Sure, Flynn has tremendous potential and is six years younger than Palmer, but a quarterback change won't resolve Oakland's issues. Flynn won't be able to ensure that running back Darren McFadden stays healthy, and he wouldn't be able to shore up the Raiders' defensive front in 2013.

Oakland isn't in the same situation Denver was a year ago when it acquired Peyton Manning. The Raiders are a long way from contending for the Lombardi Trophy, and Flynn would be just one piece to a confusing puzzle out West.



After all, it's not like Palmer stunk up the joint last season. He was one of only 11 quarterbacks in the league to throw for over 4,000 yards and threw fewer interceptions than Drew Brees, Tony Romo, Eli Manning and Philip Rivers.



Bringing in a fresh face under center and parting ways with a quarterback who has attempted 29 times as many passes and started three times as many games as that fresh face is not going to fix what ails Oakland. The Raiders have issues across the board, but if we look closely at the numbers, we discover that quarterback isn't one of them. No, Palmer isn't among the elite quarterbacks in the league, but neither was Oakland's defense or running game in 2012. 

Palmer's 85.3 passer rating last season was his best since 2007 when he was a member of the Cincinnati Bengals. That's awfully imp...

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