Unless Carson Palmer will be willing to change his stance on taking a huge pay cut on his 2013 season deal, there’s a good chance the Oakland Raiders will have to release the quarterback, beginning a chain of reaction that will lead to the Arizona Cardinals trying to sign the player, while the Raiders will be forced to choose between the draft and Geno Smith, or giving Terelle Pryor the chance to start next season.

Palmer is due to make $13 million next season, and while he has been putting up good numbers since arriving in the AFC West, the Raiders don’t feel that he’s got too much left in the tank and his arms, not to mention being wildly overpaid for his kind of contribution. There are other, more urgent aspects that need fixing from years of terrible picks and decisions, but giving Palmer so much money just doesn’t seem to make sense.

Palmer, a former number one overall pick by the Bengals, threw for 4018 yards last season, connecting 22 times for touchdowns while throwing 14 interceptions  as the Raiders went 4-11 under his starting hands. There will be interest in him if he gets cut, which seems like the likely road at the moment, especially from the Cardinals. Despite adding Drew Stanton and cutting Kevin Kolb, adding a veteran quarterback to a team in need of immediate contribution at the position, or at least a higher level of competition for the starting job, might be a surprising addition and upgrade.

As for the Raiders, cutting Palmer means two things – the chances of them using their first round draft pick on a QB, specifically Geno Smith, the highest rated college quarterback heading to the NFL at the moment, go up, while also the chance of Terrelle Pryor, who started only once for the team last season, not leaving a lasting impressing up until now.

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