Oakland Raiders’ GM Reggie McKenzie backs quarterback Carson Palmer – NFL News
Even though the Oakland Raiders have been criticised for their trade of quarterback, Carson Palmer, the teams’ new general manager, Reggie McKenzie, has expressed complete confidence in the player and has backed him to perform well in the next National Football
League (NFL) season.
Palmer started his professional NFL career in 2003 with Cincinnati Bengals. After playing eight seasons for the Bengals, the player did not plan on returning to the team for the next season, forcing Bengals to sign rookie, Andy Dalton, who led the team to
an impressive start in the last season.
Since Dalton had filled in Palmer’s shoes, Bengals did not force the latter to come back to the side and traded him to the Raiders, who had lost their regular quarterback, Jason Campbell, owing to an injury.
Palmer started nine games in the last regular season while playing 10 in which he completed 199 passes of 328 attempts for 2,753 yards. He also sent 13 touchdown passes and threw 16 interceptions, receiving a quarterback rating of 80.5
The Raiders finished the regular season with eight victories and eight defeats and could not qualify for the playoffs from the American Football Conference (AFC) West Division.
Following the failure, Raiders’ head coach, Hue Jackson, was fired, but despite all the fuss, McKenzie still believes that his team, particularly the quarterback, can do well in the next season.
He said:
“You can beat that doggone story 'til it's worn out. But I know this: We've got a quarterback we think can win the division and take us to the playoffs. Losing a one and a two doesn't bother me one bit."
McKenzie, who fired Jackson soon after taking control of the team, is short of options at the moment as the Raiders had to give up their first-round pick in favour of the Bengals, who traded Palmer.
However, he thinks that he will figure something out. He said:
“Never thought I shouldn't take the job because of things like that either. It never entered my mind. I just figured, 'We'll find players.' I know how to find players.”
While referring to the experiences he had in other franchises of the league, the GM said that the situation at Oakland can also be resolved.
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