The Oakland Raiders have interest in acquiring Carson Palmer ahead of Tuesday's trading deadline, but they remain doubtful the Cincinnati Bengals will trade their veteran quarterback, according to a league source.
Sources said Palmer represents Oakland's top option after Raiders starting quarterback Jason Campbellsustained a potentially season-ending broken collarbone Sunday.
Yahoo! Sports first reported the Raiders' interest in Palmer on Sunday night.
Bengals owner Mike Brown vowed not to trade Palmer during the preseason and hasn't backed away from that stance since. Palmer said he would rather retire than play another game for the Bengals and has been away from the team the entire season.
Sources close to Palmer have been very skeptical the Bengals actually would trade him, though he has been working out regularly and throwing the ball to stay in shape. The Bengals are 4-2, and rookie quarterback Andy Dalton is off to a strong start.
"Again, I can't speak for the Raiders and everything but I think our organization is very firm in the statement that Carson is, as everybody knows here, retired," Bengals coach Marvin Lewis told NFL Network Monday. "We have moved on and that's enough to be said because we don't need to make anymore headlines for any reason other than what we do on Sundays."
The Raiders aren't inclined to trade for Kyle Orton, who was the subject of trade rumors during the offseason and has since lost his starting job in Denver.
Oakland has made preliminary calls to free agents Trent Edwards and David Garrard, among others, but nothing is imminent, and a deal might not materialize. Raiders coach Hue Jackson could end up going with backup Kyle Boller as the starter in the short term. Rookie Terrelle Pryor, who was suspended for the first five weeks and was unable to even practice, is the only other quarterback on the roster but is very raw at this point.
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