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There are plenty of story lines waiting to be sorted out once the NFL lockout is lifted. For certain, one of them is what happens with quarterback Carson Palmer and his future with the Cincinnati Bengals. Palmer demanded a trade after last season, but Bengals owner Mike Brown has insisted all along that he will not trade his signal-caller, creating quite the standoff. Except with the lockout in place, there hasn’t been any standoff at all because even Brown has changed is mind, he can’t talk about it.
Dhani Jones, a linebacker who played with the Bengals last year but will be a free agent when the mess is over, says Palmer is definitely gone. Jones thinks Palmer is so far gone, in fact, that he’s cleaned out the refrigerator and took the ketchup bottle with him. That, my friends, is gone. Now we just have to sit and wait to see if Brown will back off and trade Palmer or force him into retirement. Dhani Jones joined WFAN in New York with Boomer and Carton to discuss the Bengals as potentially being the worst organization on the continent, Carson Palmer’s future, if he can see Brown backing off the stance that he won’t trade Palmer, players and their escalating use of social media, and whether teams can win with players who have interest outside the game of football.
On the Cincinnati Bengals’ organization being named the worst organization in North America by ESPN The Magazine:
“That’s unfortunate, because I don’t think it’s the worst organization, I just think it gets a bad rep, sort of this luminous cloud that people think has been hovering. At the same time, we’ve done a good job over the last couple of years.”
On the players believing there’s no way Carson Palmer is coming back to the Bengals:
“He’s not coming back. He sold his house, flew his family, his dogs are gone, the ketchup inside the refrigerator. … [His brother] Jordan refers to him as his former teammate. I think his brother would know best, right?”
Does Mike Brown trade Carson Palmer?
“I think they’re at a standoff. I think Carson’s probably going to have to retire. I don’t think Mike Brown and Carson would ever see eye-to-eye in that situation. I think it’s one or the other. Mike, if you have a contract, you fulfill the obligations of your contract. He talks about it every time we go into training camp.”
Does whether Palmer is there or not play into your decision as you will be a free agent when the lockout ends?
“I think the business decision lies within the entire team. As you enter your third wind, or the back nine, as we say, of my career, certain things matter more than others.”
On players doing more with media and social media outside of football:
“What is wrong with having guys that are doing things a little bit outside the box? Within the game of football, a lot of times people have always been known as the ones with the helmets on. Then, all of the sudden, Chad [Ochocinco] is a Twitter sensation. He’s got almost 2 million followers. Now, the move of the player, the thought process of the player, people want to know what’s going on. I love playing football, but I love helping players sort of defeat these stereotypes.”
But that sort of stuff wouldn’t be allowed in places like New England. You’re not going to win with players like that:
“Every team is broken down into a handful of guys who have their specialty, bring something very different to the team. Then the rest of the guys sort of fit certain positions, if you will. So there’s going to be some standouts that might have some extracurricular activities going on and then there are some guys that, at the same time, make some big plays.”
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