johnson85 Posted March 5, 2009 Report Share Posted March 5, 2009 For the fourth year in a row, Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer has a new backup.Much-traveled veteran J.T. O'Sullivan, who started eight games for the San Francisco 49ers in 2008, has reached agreement on a two-year contract. Financial details of the deal were not yet available.O'Sullivan, 29, should be a good fit for the Cincinnati offense and, given Palmer's injury history, he could get some playing time for the Bengals.A seven-year veteran, O'Sullivan began his NFL career in New Orleans, where he was a sixth-round pick in 2002. He was traded by the Saints to the Green Bay Packers in 2004 and has also played for the Chicago Bears, Minnesota Vikings, New England Patriots, Carolina Panthers, Detroit Lions and 49ers. The Bengals will be O'Sullivan's ninth team in eight years in the league.Last season represented the most extended playing time that O'Sullivan, a favorite of then-offensive coordinator Mike Martz, has ever received. He played in nine games, with eight starts, and completed 128-of-220 passes for 1,618 yards with eight touchdown passes and 11 interceptions.Before last season, O'Sullivan had never started a game and had played in only five contests. For his career, O'Sullivan has completed 141-of-246 passes for 1,826 yards, with nine touchdowns and 13 interceptions. The former Cal-Davis standout also played in NFL Europe in 2004.Palmer is coming off a right elbow injury, which did not require surgery but limited him to four games, all starts, in 2008. His backup last season, Ryan Fitzpatrick, signed a three-year deal with the Buffalo Bills last week as a free agent. In 2006, Palmer's backup was Anthony Wright. Doug Johnson, was the No. 2 quarterback in 2007.http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3954995http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/rumors/post/Be...?urn=nfl,146026 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HAPPYJAQ Posted March 5, 2009 Report Share Posted March 5, 2009 WOW. Eight teams have given up on him so far? He must be pretty good. I guess he can't be worse that Jordan. We'll draft a guy like Hunter Cantwell in the 6th round this year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bearcat1975 Posted March 6, 2009 Report Share Posted March 6, 2009 God forbid, if Carson goes down...Might as well turn the tv off for the season at that point.PalmerO'SuckivanPalmer Jr.yikes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoePong Posted March 6, 2009 Report Share Posted March 6, 2009 God forbid, if Carson goes down...Might as well turn the tv off for the season at that point.PalmerO'SuckivanPalmer Jr.yikes.He is a quality backup. We're already better off than last year. He's an upgrade over Fitzpatrick. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HAPPYJAQ Posted March 6, 2009 Report Share Posted March 6, 2009 God forbid, if Carson goes down...Might as well turn the tv off for the season at that point.PalmerO'SuckivanPalmer Jr.yikes.I just read he had 22 turnovers last season, including 11 fumbles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clackwoods Posted March 6, 2009 Report Share Posted March 6, 2009 God forbid, if Carson goes down...Might as well turn the tv off for the season at that point.PalmerO'SuckivanPalmer Jr.yikes.I just read he had 22 turnovers last season, including 11 fumbles.He played in Mike Martz offense with old and horrible receivers and no Offensive line. They didn't even utilize their best player, that is why he had so many. He held onto the ball to long and got slaughtered.He is defiantly an upgrade over Fitz! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baraka Posted March 6, 2009 Report Share Posted March 6, 2009 yeah he was throwing to bryant johnson, isaac "where's my walker" bruce and . . . and . . . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jditty47 Posted March 6, 2009 Report Share Posted March 6, 2009 bruce had a pretty good year last year...their line did suck though. and gore was hurt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoePong Posted March 6, 2009 Report Share Posted March 6, 2009 The only time I've really seen him play is in the pre-season with Green Bay and New Orleans and he always looked pretty good (of course he did well in NFLEurope too). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArmyBengal Posted March 6, 2009 Report Share Posted March 6, 2009 They still don't mention this as a done deal on the official site that I can find. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HAPPYJAQ Posted March 6, 2009 Report Share Posted March 6, 2009 They still don't mention this as a done deal on the official site that I can find.Yeah, the AP is only saying that the sides have agreed to terms and that's it. I have a question for you guys. Is our offense really that close to the Mike Martz offense that we would consider a player like O'Sullivan, who himself is coming off a bad season, as a better fit that Grossman, Losman, Anthony Wright, etc.?I think at least one of those guys who have been had for the 1 million or so the Bengals reportedly offered O'Sullivan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShulaSteakhouse Posted March 6, 2009 Report Share Posted March 6, 2009 God forbid, if Carson goes down...Might as well turn the tv off for the season at that point.PalmerO'SuckivanPalmer Jr.yikes.He is a quality backup. We're already better off than last year. He's an upgrade over Fitzpatrick.He has the "potential" to be an upgrade to Fitz, but as of right now he's very comparable and his #'s stink.I just see a guy who throws more INT's than TD's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShulaSteakhouse Posted March 6, 2009 Report Share Posted March 6, 2009 They still don't mention this as a done deal on the official site that I can find.Yeah, the AP is only saying that the sides have agreed to terms and that's it. I have a question for you guys. Is our offense really that close to the Mike Martz offense that we would consider a player like O'Sullivan, who himself is coming off a bad season, as a better fit that Grossman, Losman, Anthony Wright, etc.?I think at least one of those guys who have been had for the 1 million or so the Bengals reportedly offered O'Sullivan.It's official now as of this morning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArmyBengal Posted March 6, 2009 Report Share Posted March 6, 2009 They still don't mention this as a done deal on the official site that I can find.Yeah, the AP is only saying that the sides have agreed to terms and that's it. I have a question for you guys. Is our offense really that close to the Mike Martz offense that we would consider a player like O'Sullivan, who himself is coming off a bad season, as a better fit that Grossman, Losman, Anthony Wright, etc.?I think at least one of those guys who have been had for the 1 million or so the Bengals reportedly offered O'Sullivan.It's official now as of this morning.And here's the link...http://www.bengals.com/news/news.asp?story_id=7549 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BengalByTheBay Posted March 6, 2009 Report Share Posted March 6, 2009 I have a question for you guys. Is our offense really that close to the Mike Martz offense that we would consider a player like O'Sullivan, who himself is coming off a bad season, as a better fit that Grossman, Losman, Anthony Wright, etc.?I think at least one of those guys who have been had for the 1 million or so the Bengals reportedly offered O'Sullivan.I wonder whether Grossman or Losman would sign anywhere for the same $1 mil. A 3 year older Anthony Wright does not excite me at all, let alone cause me any more comfort than JT O'Sullivan. Being in SF, I watched a little of the whiners last year and they were a complete trainwreck. Hard to blame much of it on any one player. The transition to Martz was a failure until the very end of the season and their OC the year before was even worse. Martz brought O'Sullivan with him from Detroit as kind of a clubhouse favorite and he did not play well. Their offense only started clicking a little at season's end with Shawn Hill at QB. Not exactly a glowing endorsement based on JTO's last year. He has a lot to prove and, hopefully, he won't have to prove it at all because he won't see the light of day after preseason....fingers crossed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HairOnFire Posted March 6, 2009 Report Share Posted March 6, 2009 I have a question for you guys. Is our offense really that close to the Mike Martz offense that we would consider a player like O'Sullivan, who himself is coming off a bad season, as a better fit that Grossman, Losman, Anthony Wright, etc.? I doubt Losman and Grossman have given up their dreams of becoming a starter. They'll probably settle for backup jobs on teams whose starting spot isn't locked down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TJJackson Posted March 6, 2009 Report Share Posted March 6, 2009 I have not yet found the contract terms for JT, but one site reported the cap hit for this year at 2m, and thats basically the same as the cap hit for Fitzpatrick - so why the heck didn't we just sign Fitzpatrick, who at least knows our offense? It isn't like either one is notably better than the other, so all else being equal, I'd rather have the guy who knows the offense already over the one who doesn't Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
COB Posted March 6, 2009 Report Share Posted March 6, 2009 It isn't like either one is notably better than the other, so all else being equal, I'd rather have the guy who knows the offense already over the one who doesn'tI think they felt Fitz had a really low ceiling. They'd seen him play plenty and likely felt it wasn't going to get any better. With O'Sullivan they probably at least have some hope that he can improve and play better than Fitz did.2 Million against the cap is a pretty large number for them to spend on a backup qb, so they must feel he's got some ability. And with Carson's recent injury history, we could easily see O'Sullivan in the regular season, so I hope they're right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HAPPYJAQ Posted March 6, 2009 Report Share Posted March 6, 2009 Admittedly, I'm less excited about this guy tham I was the Fitzpatrick trade. I would've been OK with the Bengals trading a 4th to Houston for Rosenfels, as we'll need to draft a QB this year anyway. O'Sullivan is 29 years old and will be on his 9th team in the Bengals. As least we'll find out about Zampese, should Carson go down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clackwoods Posted March 10, 2009 Report Share Posted March 10, 2009 Admittedly, I'm less excited about this guy tham I was the Fitzpatrick trade. I would've been OK with the Bengals trading a 4th to Houston for Rosenfels, as we'll need to draft a QB this year anyway. O'Sullivan is 29 years old and will be on his 9th team in the Bengals. As least we'll find out about Zampese, should Carson go down.Would you want to spend the three million a year it would cost to have Rosenfels? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BengalPimp Posted March 10, 2009 Report Share Posted March 10, 2009 I think they're overpaying him, as Carson Palmer will get every offensive snap this season....WATCH THE CARSON COMEBACK BABY!!!!!!!!!!BTW o'sullivan may suck, but at least he can get the ball more than 12 yards downfield...unlike noodle-arm Fitzpatrick. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HairOnFire Posted March 10, 2009 Report Share Posted March 10, 2009 To be honest, I'd give this one a failing grade. I don't see O'Sullivan being the answer to any question worth asking, and there didn't seem to be a reason to rush the decision. Aim higher. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kazkal Posted March 10, 2009 Report Share Posted March 10, 2009 Indeed unless the guy is a genius on the sideline :| Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoTbOy Posted March 10, 2009 Report Share Posted March 10, 2009 While JT might not be the next coming of FRiech(backup QB in Buffalo years ago) he can't be any worse than RFitzpatrick, he even was a starter on some teams... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArmyBengal Posted March 10, 2009 Report Share Posted March 10, 2009 Just my thought here, but just about all the backup QB's looked to be garbage this year in free agency.I'm sure Chris Sims is still thinking he can start in the league, but will be a backup for the foreseeable future. I would have really liked to have him in here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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