The Facts: Palmer is perfectly willing to walk away from football, he tells friends, if football means playing for the Bengals. "I will never set foot in Paul Brown Stadium again," is how he put it to one confidant. He continued, "I have $80 million in the bank. I don't have to play football for money. I'll play it for the love of the game but that would have to be elsewhere. I'm prepared to live my life."

Diehards Line:Palmer has obviously expressed those feelings or others like them to the Bengals. And it appears they are taking him seriously. Rather than let him walk away into retirement and leave them holding an empty bag, they may be softening their stance to let him try to resurrect his career elsewhere in which case they'd get something in return. According to SI.com's Peter King, "Talking to one Bengals official over the weekend, I was surprised to hear that whenever trades are allowed after the signing of a new CBA, the team will listen to offers for Palmer. ..." Stay tuned. It'll be interesting to see what kind of interest Palmer draws if that's indeed the case.