With two weeks in the books, it’s safe to say we’ve seen the last of Carson Palmer with the Cincinnati Bengals after owner Mike Brown failed to give into his former quarterback’s demands for a trade. While he may never suit up for the orange and black again, it appears Palmer may be giving another sport a try instead of football–hockey.
According to Joe Reedy of the Cincinnati Enquirer, Palmer will tryout for the Cincinnati Cyclones–an affiliate hockey team of the Florida Panthers and Nashville Predators–on on September 29 at U.S. Bank Arena. No, this is not a joke–Palmer is apparently willing to give hockey a shot instead of playing football for the 2011 season.
Here’s more about Palmer’s hockey tryout courtesy of Reedy’s article:
The 6’5” Southern California native recently “retired” from pro football. The Cyclones hope to allow Palmer to continue his professional sports career in Cincinnati by losing the cleats and lacing up the skates this season. Palmer spent eight great seasons leading the Bengals and the Cyclones hope that he can quarterback their power play for the upcoming year. Should the former Heisman Trophy winner grab a spot on the team, he will earn the league minimum of $370 per week while also sharing lodging with one of his teammates in a spacious two-bedroom apartment. Palmer will also enjoy the luxury of traveling to and from each game on a ‘sleeper’ bus where each player has their very own bunk. Palmer, who has worn #9 during his entire pro-career, will have to negotiate with last year’s leading scorer Mathieu Aubin to wear the single digit mark this season.
If he somehow managed to make the team, Palmer would not only be playing a completely different sport from football–but he would be taking a major pay cut as well considering he would have made $11.5 million by returning to the Bengals this season. Then again, Palmer did make the claim that he had $80 million saved up in the bank when he refused to step foot in Paul Brown Stadium again–so money obviously wouldn’t be an issue for Palmer if he actually made the Cyclones.
Dan Parzych is the Lead NFL Content Editor for www.RantSports.com/NFL, where he writes and edits NFL content for www.RantSports.com.
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[...] While he may never suit up for the orange and black again, it appears Palmer may be giving another sport a try instead of [...]
Palmer doesn’t even have the toughness to play QB, let alone hockey. Hopefully, this is a ploy to get him checked a few times. Maybe the Cyclones are bringing in Kimo Von Oelhoffen too.