It’s not that Carson Palmer minds being paid $13 million a season by the Oakland Raiders, but he’d also like to be contending for a title. So the options are pretty simple for him – stay on a bad team as a starter and get paid like a star quarterback, or take a serious pay cut in order to be a backup on a team with a chance to make it to the Super Bowl.
The Raiders, who aren’t really certain Terrelle Pryor has what it takes, at least at the moment, to succeed as a starting NFL quarterback, do not want to pay Palmer, who put up over 4000 passing yards last season but picking up only four wins in 15 starts, the $13 million he’s due to make in 2013, it’s as simple as that. They don’t really want to release him either, but Palmer isn’t willing to take a paycut to $10 million, stating if he’s going to be a starter on a team that continues what seems to be a never-ending rebuilding process, should get compensated handsomely for that.
But what is exactly a pay cut he’s willing to take in order to play as a backup? Even at 33, after 11 years without too much team success in the NFL, Palmer will probably be the best quarterback without a starting job if he does get cut by the Raiders. How low down the price scale is he willing to go, and wouldn’t his arrival immediately stir up some controversy regarding the starting position? While a lot of teams would love to have him as their #2 guy, it mostly has to do with how much money he’s willing to take. We saw the 49ers not happy about paying Alex Smith $7-8 million a season to sit behind Kaepernick, while the Seahawks are trying to find a team for Flynn who’ll be making around $6 million next season.