Raiders quarterback Carson Palmer, acquired Tuesday from the Bengals, is expected to start Sunday vs. the Chiefs, according to a national media outlet. It will be Palmer's first start since Jan. 2, 2011, when he was with Cincinnati.
ESPN reported on the air Wednesday morning that Palmer was in line to start, and ESPN NFL reporter Adam Schefter published the following message on his Twitter account:
"No big surprise, but Raiders quarterback Carson Palmer is expected to start Sunday versus the Chiefs."
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Offensive coordinator Al Saunders strongly suggested that Palmer will be the man for the Raiders on Sunday when he was asked Wednesday on Kansas City's Fescoe in the Morning on 610 Sports Radio what Palmer needs to do to be the Raiders starter.
Saunders answered, As long as hes breathing.
"He walked out on the field (Tuesday) and everybody kind of looked at everybody and said, You know what? This is a real quarterback,'" Saunders said. "That was the comment made by a couple people as they watched him throw. It just depends on how quickly he feels comfortable in what were doing and that shouldnt take too long."
If so, it will mark the second straight week that a new player has stepped into the starting lineup. Last week linebacker Aaron Curry arrived via trade from Seattle and was installed as Oakland's starting weakside linebacker.
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Coach Hue Jackson was asked about the prospect of Palmer starting days after donning his No. 3 jersey and deflected the question.
"You think Im going to tell you that right now? You know me a little bit better than that," Jackson said Tuesday. "OK, all you guys try, Im not going to let that out of the bag just yet. But youve got to be ready for anything from me. I think you know that. Well see as we continue to move through the week exactly where we are."
Palmer was also noncommittal at his introductory press conference.
Its going to take some time. I think the only way you can get in football shape is by playing football. You can run wind sprints and lift weights and all those things, but calling a play in the huddle when youre tired, after you just ran, you get the wind knocked out of you, getting up off the ground, ready to talk in the huddle, catching your breath, thats football shape," Palmer said.
"And they only way to do that is in practice and in games. So obviously Im not there yet but Ill lift until Im 75 years old or a doctor tells me not to. Ill stay in shape my whole life. I enjoy working out so although my mindset was This might be it, I might be retired I still was working out and doing a lot of the things Ive been doing my whole career."
The Raiders acquired Palmer for a first-round draft pick in next April's draft, as well as a future conditional pick.
Palmer's career record as a starting quarterback is 46-51, bottoming out with last year's 4-12 mark that hastened his request for a trade, despite his signing a six-year contract extension with the Bengals that took his initial deal through 2014 and made him, at the time, the highest paid player in the NFL on Dec. 29, 2005.