CINCINNATI (AP) – The Cincinnati Bengals waived quarterback Jordan Palmer on Saturday, giving his older brother another reason to stay away.

Palmer was the No. 2 quarterback behind older brother Carson Palmer, who asked for a trade after the season. The franchise quarterback has told the team he’d rather retire than play another season with Cincinnati, which is one of the NFL’s least-successful teams.

The Bengals signed Jordan Palmer to another contract before the start of training camp. He hoped to get a chance to compete for a job, but it became clear quickly that Cincinnati had other plans.

Owner Mike Brown said rookie Andy Dalton would start. The Bengals also signed veteran Bruce Gradkowski. Those two got most of the plays

during training camp and the preseason games, leaving Palmer out of the picture.

It wasn’t a complete surprise that he was waived.

“Based on coming off the offseason and coming into camp, yeah, I’m surprised,” Palmer said, in a phone interview from his home in Cincinnati. “As I started to see this unfolding in terms of the opportunity I was given, I’m not as surprised now.”

The Bengals also released cornerback Fred Bennett, who was on the roster for the last five games in 2010, and waived safety Tom Nelson, cornerback LeRoy Vann, linebacker Stephen Franklin and receiver Jamere Holland.

Carson Palmer was the first overall pick in 2003, coach Marvin Lewis’ first season in Cincinnati. He sat and watched Jon Kitna run the offense

for a year, then took the team to its only two playoff appearances in the last 20 years.

After the Bengals finished 4-12 last season and Lewis agreed to stay as head coach even though Brown said nothing would change, Palmer approached the front office about a trade.

Brown insists he won’t trade Palmer because he has four years left on his contract.

The Bengals signed Jordan Palmer as their No. 3 quarterback before the 2008 season. He appeared in three games that year, throwing a dozen passes. He was promoted to the No. 2 quarterback last season, when he got into one game and threw three times.

After Carson Palmer said he wasn’t coming back, Jordan took over the offense during the NFL’s lockout. He had receivers out to his home in California for workouts, and helped organize full-team practices in Cincinnati. He also helped the offense learn new coordinator Jay Gruden’s playbook, and tutored Dalton on the fine points of playing quarterback in the NFL.

During three preseason games, he got to throw only four passes – fewest among the four quarterbacks in camp. Dan LeFevour, the No. 3 quarterback last season, got more throws than Palmer.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.

The Cincinnati Bengals waived quarterback Jordan Palmer on Saturday, giving his older brother another reason to stay away.

Palmer was the No. 2 quarterback behind older brother Carson, who asked for a trade after the season. The franchise quarterback has told the team he’d rather retire than play another season with Cincinnati, which is one of the NFL’s least-successful teams.

The Bengals signed Jordan Palmer to another contract before the start of training camp. He hoped to get a chance to compete for a job, but it became clear quickly that Cincinnati had other plans.

Owner Mike Brown said rookie Andy Dalton would start. The Bengals also signed veteran Bruce Gradkowski. Those two got most of the plays during training camp and the pre-season games, leaving Palmer out of the picture.

“Based on coming off the off-season and coming into camp, yeah, I’m surprised,” Palmer said, in a phone interview from his home in Cincinnati. “As I started to see this unfolding in terms of the opportunity I was given, I’m not as surprised now.”

CINCINNATI — The Cincinnati Bengals have waived quarterback Jordan Palmer, who came to training camp hoping to compete for a job but didn’t get much of a chance.

Palmer was the backup quarterback last season to brother Carson Palmer, who has decided to retire rather than play another season for the Bengals. Jordan Palmer led workouts with Cincinnati’s offense during the NFL lockout and tutored rookie quarterback Andy Dalton.

The Bengals decided to make Dalton the starter and signed veteran Bruce Gradkowski, an indication they didn’t plan to keep Palmer. Dalton and Gradkowski ran most of the plays during training camp practices and preseason games.

CINCINNATI — It was like old times, very old times.The Cincinnati Bengals took the field at Nippert Stadium Wednesday morning for an informal, players-only workout.The Bengals franchise last played games at the University of Cincinnati on-campus facility in 1969.But in 2011 the NFL lockout has professional players once again using the collegiate venue. About 40 players were in hand for the first full-squad workout of the year.”That’s the first thing me and Domata talked about,” said offensive lineman Andrew Whitworth. “It really made you feel good to have everybody out here and have us all working together.”Whitworth and defensive lineman Domato Peko have organized the workouts while the lockout drags through a 13th week.Offensive lineman Bobbie Williams called the turnout “another sign of maturity for this team, another sign of dedication, another sign of wanting to get better and do a lot better than what we did last year.” In 2010 the Bengals finished with a disappointing 4-12 record.Usually the Bengals would have spent April and May going through several weeks of offseason training sessions at Paul Brown Stadium. Since the lockout bars contact with coaches, it is up to the players to coach themselves.”I don’t know about coaching,” laughed Whitworth, “but it’s great to have all these guys out here.”The players plan to continue workouts through next week.As expected, quarterback Carson Palmer and wide receiver Chad Ochocinco did not attend. But the other three quarterbacks on the roster, Jordan Palmer, Dan LeFevour and second-round draft pick Andy Dalton, took part in the workout.Dalton is expected to compete with Palmer for the starting job.The rookie from TCU said, “To get with these guys and just get used to them and see how they’re running routes and coming out of breaks, see how they do different things, it’s great for me.”Palmer organized workouts last month for quarterbacks and wide receivers near his home in California. He said bonding a team off the field is about as important as the work on the field.”I was the tour guide,” Palmer said. “We went surfing, we went to Angels games, played golf, it was awesome.”But with a new offense in the works, Palmer knows it will take a more than bonding to get it right. “”We’re behind the 8-ball even if there wasn’t a lockout going on,” he said.Jordan said they have already learned 30 to 40 new plays of offensive coordinator John Gruden’s West Coast offense and Jordan said the Bengals have “the perfect players for it.”Palmer also addressed the absence of his older brother Carson. “I’m definitely separating myself from what Carson’s doing. He’s my brother, but he’s a former teammate who’s going a different route and I’m going to focus on what’s in front of me.”Carson has threatened to retire from football if the Bengals don’t grant him a trade to another team.

Read More: Carson Palmer (QB – CIN), Cedric Benson (RB – CIN), Tank Johnson (DT – CIN), Cincinnati Bengals

Cincinnati Bengals DT Tank Johnson reiterated what teammate RB Cedric Benson said a few weeks ago: If QB Carson Palmer doesn’t want to be in Cincinnati, then send him on his way. Palmer of course has threatened to retire if the Bengals don’t trade him and all signs point to the Bengals staying true to their word and allowing him to retire without trading him.

Benson said a few weeks ago that it may not be healthy for Palmer to come back since he clearly doesn’t want to be in Cincinnati. Johnson told Sirius XM NFL Radio that, if Palmer doesn’t want to come back, he shouldn’t.

“In terms of what (Benson) said about Carson, I mean, he’s absolutely right. There’s no way that you can bring that kind of energy into the locker room. I mean, if a guy doesn’t want to be there, let him go.”

I think they make a good point. Ideally though, as team owner Mike Brown pointed out last week, Palmer would be around to groom QB Andy Dalton, who the Bengals selected in the second round of the 2011 NFL draft. 

As for whether Palmer would really retire if he’s not traded, Johnson says he thinks he’s serious.

“I don’t think Carson’s a guy who likes to come out in the media and put himself kind of on the stage if he’s not serious,” Johnson said. “I’ve known Carson all the way since we played in the Pac-10 together” — Palmer at USC, Johnson at Washington — “and I haven’t known him to be much of a jokester, so I’m thinking he’s pretty serious.”

With the NFL lockout potentially compromising part of the season, Palmer should have plenty of time to make his decision.

Check out the latest podcast at SB Nation’s Cincy Jungle where there’s plenty of Carson Palmer talk.