Former Oakland Head Coach Hue Jackson Gambled it All Away on Carson Palmer

NFL franchises spend a great deal of money and time on vetting players to lead their franchises. Most enthusiasts agree that the quarterback position is the most important position on the team. In his eight years in Cincinnati, the Bengals catered their team to the arm strength and accuracy of Carson Palmer’s arm.

In return, Palmer delivered the Bengals zero playoff wins before quitting on the team at the end of the 2010 season. That season, Carson Palmer threw twenty interceptions, ranking him third in the NFL in interceptions thrown.

In 2011, Palmer attempted to exceed his 2010 numbers by throwing sixteen picks in ten games as an Oakland Raider.

Former Oakland coach Hue Jackson gambled his reputation as well as his job on Palmer-much as the Cincinnati Bengals had gambled their franchise on Palmer. The Bengals went season after season without one playoff win under Palmer. In the end, Palmer quit on the Bengals.

Mike Freeman of CBS Sports said, “There are players around the league ripping Palmer as a chump who was afraid to take on the challenge of sticking with the Bengals and making them good again.

“Some players are calling him the word that is slang for a cat. They also feel he’s getting a pass from the media,” he said.

The Bengals knew what they had with Palmer, and that’s why they accepted his retirement and went with a rookie, Andy Dalton, and never looked back until Hue Jackson called for Palmers services.

Hue Jackson slithered away from the negotiations with an aging interception-friendly quarterback who has yet to win a playoff game. And the Bengals walked away with two of Oakland’s high draft picks.

By season’s end, the Bengals walked into the playoffs with a rookie quarterback, the Broncos marched into the playoffs behind Tim Tebow, and Hue Jackson and Palmer looked like the Laurel and Hardy of the AFC.

In the end Hue Jackson was ran out of Oakland and Palmer went another season without a playoff win.


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