AFC West blogger Bill Williamson and I first met as competing beat reporters covering the Seattle Seahawks in 1998.
Warren Moon's contract holdout was the big story that year.
Williamson and I spent part of Monday discussing another quarterback unhappy with his situation. Carson Palmer, on his way out of Oakland and possibly heading for the Arizona Cardinals, has "deserted" a team for the second time, Williamson contends.
I took an opposing view on this one in the video atop this item. Whether or not Palmer has handled things well in Cincinnati and Oakland, the Raiders were the ones coming to him asking for a pay reduction. Palmer is well within his rights to resist such a reduction, even if it means taking less money elsewhere.
Teams routinely release players who refuse to accept cuts in pay. No one accuses them of deserting their players. It's just business. And if it's business when teams use whatever leverage is available to them, I'd say it's business when players do the same thing -- particularly during the offseason, and particularly when the team initiates discussions the way Oakland initiated them.
Williamson and I also discussed Matt Flynn's prospects in Oakland.
One more note on Palmer, courtesy of Williamson: The Raiders were 8-16 in games Palmer started, compared to 7-18 in games JaMarcus Russell started. Palmer had a much higher Total QBR in those starts (52.3, which is around average, compared to 23.7 for Russell).