Arizona Cardinals to give Carson Palmer $8 million

The Arizona Cardinals are set to add Oakland Raiders veteran signal-caller Carson Palmer in a trade, as opposed to potentially signing Palmer on the open market. The Cards seem to be high on Palmer, because they are willing to acquire him in a trade, have had their eyes set on him, and they are reportedly set to give him $8 million. Per Jason La Canfora, Palmer will “end up”getting $8 million from the Cardinals, as opposed to the $13 million he was set to get from the Raiders.

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So while the Cardinals are effectively getting a $5 million paycut for Palmer’s services, that’s a very loose way of putting it. $8 million is still a significant sum of money for a mediocre quarterback, and it speaks volumes to how desperate the Cardinals organization is at this point in time.

Palmer seems to have quite a bit of leverage in these negotiations, and that has a lot to do with the 33-year-old’s no-trade clause. He is likely baiting the Cardinals- desperate for an upgrade- into still giving him a significant amount of money, because I doubt he would make anywhere near $8 million on the free agent market if signed.

The Cardinals are fully expected to release one of their five quarterbacks if Palmer signs on (five including Palmer), and that quarterback will likely be John Skelton, who was drafted under a previous regime. Heck, I could see them releasing both Skelton and Ryan Lindley, but I bet Skelton will be the first domino to fall.

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