Cooked Goose

Don’t Reach

Last season Jason Campbell, the serviceable if less than spectacular starting Quarterback of the Oakland Raiders went down with a broken collarbone in their week 6 win over Cleveland. Their record at the time of injury was 4-2. That week coach Hue Jackson spearheaded a deal with Cincinnati to acquire the rights to QB Carson Palmer. The trade involved a first rounder this year and a conditional 1st or 2nd rounder in the 2013 NFL Draft. Mike Brown, the owner and GM of Cincy famously declared that he would not trade Palmer: Palmer had signed a contract, and he wasn’t going to reward him for reneging, and so on. Everyone has a price, I guess. And for Brown, the price Hue was willing to pay was it.

With the trade, Hue Jackson mortgaged the future for the present. In effect saying, “With the right QB, we have a team capable of making a deep run.” In the press conference, he referred to the polarizing, late owner of the Raiders. “This is a trade Al Davis would have loved.” That week released from his self-imposed exile, Palmer ran onto the field at Oakland-Alameda Coliseum for the second half of their inner divisional contest vs KC, and promptly threw three picks in a 28-0 beat down. They went 4-6 the rest of the way, missing the playoffs in the worst division in the AFC.

2 first rounders for Palmer who’d had a miserable previous season in Cincy? Hue reached; he overpaid. And for that crime and other misdemeanors, Hue was fired. This week I’ve heard people say that Peyton Manning could go as high as 2nd or 3rd round in fantasy drafts. 2nd, 3rd round? Man, the hype machine is on full blast. Suffice it to say, in our draft last season Manning went in the 3rd. Remember, that’s before the third or fourth neck surgery and in the comfort of Indy – before sitting out an entire season. Don’t do like Hue; don’t reach.

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