Good For the Bengals!
With Jason Campbell on the shelf for several weeks with a collarbone injury, the 4-2 Oakland Raiders pried a disgruntled Carson Palmer out of Cincinnati Tuesday, giving the Bengals a 2012 first-round draft pick and a conditional 2013 pick for the 31-year-old Palmer.
Good for the Bengals to hold tight and NOT let a disgruntled athlete out of their contract! As part of the management side of the professional sports business for more than 30 years, I have often felt that the contract between player and team is a one way street. And the one way is on the players side. If a player is not happy he or she is not going to play hard or up to their potential. But the team still has to pay them. So what most teams do is cave in to the player by trading them to another team. Not the Bengals! From Day 1 Mike Brown held to his guns and would not let Carson Palmer out of his contract despite angry Bengal fans and media criticism. And Brown’s principled approach looks like it will pay off. The Bengals are a surprising 4-2 and playing much better than anyone predicted. Whether or not they continue to play well remains to be seen but this is one case where I give a big thumbs up to management.
