Owner: Bengals won't trade Palmer, consider QB to be retired

CINCINNATI -- Bengals owner Mike Brown insisted on Tuesday that he won't trade quarterback Carson Palmer, who wants to leave one of the NFL's least-successful franchises.

Palmer, who has four years left on his contract, told the team in January that he would retire if he's not traded. The Bengals have only two winning seasons in the last 20 years, one of the worst stretches of futility in league history.

Brown said the club will move on without its franchise quarterback. The Bengals plan to hold their first training camp workout Saturday in Georgetown, Ky.

"I honestly like Carson Palmer," Brown said. "He was a splendid player for us. He's a good person. I wish him well. And he is retired. That is his choice. ... I'm not expecting him to be back."

Asked why he wouldn't trade Palmer and get some draft picks in return, Brown said it was a matter of principle.

"Carson signed a contract. He made a commitment. He gave his word," Brown said. "We relied on his word. We relied on his commitment. We expected him to perform here. He's going to walk away from his commitment. We aren't going to reward him for doing it."

Brown has traditionally taken a hard line on players trying to leave. Receiver Chad Ochocinco unsuccessfully lobbied for a trade three years ago, but Brown refused. Ochocinco has one year left on his deal, but is hoping to be released during the next few weeks.

Brown and coach Marvin Lewis declined to say anything about Ochocinco on Tuesday other than that he's under contract. The Bengals picked receiver A.J. Green in the first round of the draft, giving themselves his eventual replacement.

The Bengals drafted Andy Dalton in the second round of April's draft. Brown indicated on Tuesday that he will be the starter heading into camp, even though he hasn't been able to work with coaches because of the NFL's lockout. Jordan Palmer -- Carson's younger brother -- is the only experienced quarterback on the roster.

Brown said the team will look for another veteran, but it will give Dalton a chance to win the job.

"We think he is promising for our future," Brown said. "Yes, he'll have teething problems. It won't be altogether easy for him all the time. But we're going to put him in there. If he can do it, we're going to go with him. And I hope he can manage it."

The Bengals are coming off a 4-12 season that included 10 consecutive losses. Carson Palmer told the team he wouldn't be back after Lewis decided to return even though Brown promised no significant changes in how the organization is run.

The Bengals originally planned to have players report at Georgetown College -- a 90-mile drive south of Cincinnati -- on Wednesday and have their first practice a day later. They pushed the schedule back by two days.

Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press

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Retired players ask court to involve them more in labor talks

MINNEAPOLIS -- While NFL owners and players appear to be inching toward a resolution of the league's lengthy lockout, a group of retired players is clamoring to be more involved in the discussions.

The group filed a class-action complaint against the owners and current players in federal court Monday, saying they have been excluded from the mediation sessions taking place in an attempt to end the lockout.

With the scheduled opening of training camps and preseason games fast approaching, Albert Breer writes that owners and players feel pressure to strike a labor deal. More...

Named plaintiffs including Hall of Famers Carl Eller, Franco Harris, Marcus Allen and Paul Krause are asking U.S. District Judge Susan Richard Nelson to put a halt to the mediation she ordered and declare that the current players cannot negotiate on behalf of those who are retired.

Owners and current players have met five times over the last few weeks as they work to put together a new collective bargaining agreement in time to avoid the loss of training camps and games. They met with U.S. Magistrate Judge Arthur J. Boylan in Minneapolis last week, including for more than 15 hours Thursday, and will resume meetings Tuesday in New York.

The retired players say that NFL owners; the NFL Players Association and a group of current players, including star quarterbacks Tom Brady, Peyton Manning and Drew Brees, are "conspiring to depress the amounts of pension and disability benefits to be paid to former NFL players in order to maximize the salaries and benefits to current NFL players."

The NFL declined comment on the complaint, which was first reported by The New York Times. The Associated Press left a message for an NFLPA spokesman seeking comment.

The complaint gets to the heart of an issue that has been building for quite some time. Retired players have felt marginalized in the dispute over how to divide more than $9 billion in revenue.

After the owners locked out the players in March, the NFLPA disbanded, and a group of them sued the league for antitrust violations. A small group of retired players, including Eller, Obafemi Ayanbadejo and Ryan Collins, filed their own lawsuit against the league seeking more help for medical treatments of former players and better pensions.

Nelson combined the two lawsuits, and several representatives of the retired players, including Eller and attorney Michael Hausfeld, were present at early mediation sessions in Minneapolis. But as talks have heated up and the venue has shifted from the Twin Cities to Maryland, Massachussetts, Illinois and back to Minneapolis again over the last month or so, the retired players haven't been present.

This hasn't sat well with them, and lawyers for the group have sent letters to Boylan, lobbied NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and held intense media briefings to make their feelings known.

The complaint said the players' decision to decertify their union makes it an antitrust violation for the owners and current players to negotiate for retired players.

It also alleges that the NFL had said it would tap revenue streams both from within and outside the salary cap to help retired players, but union representatives, including executive director DeMaurice Smith, want all the money delegated for the cap to be given to current players.

"Through the settlement they are forging, the Brady plaintiffs, the NFLPA and the NFL defendants are conspiring to set retiree benefits and pension levels at artificially low levels," the complaint alleged.

If Nelson rejects the motion for an injunction on the mediation, the retired players are asking for treble damages.

It wasn't immediately clear what kind of impact the filing would have on the continuing talks between the owners and current players. They were scheduled to resume Tuesday, with the open of training camp less than three weeks away and the preseason opener between the Chicago Bears and St. Louis Rams slated for Aug. 7 in Canton, Ohio.

Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press

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Retired players don't wince words when it comes to benefits

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