Bengals Claim QB John Skelton Off Of Waivers

Joe Reedy reports that the Bengals have claimed former Cardinals QB John Skelton off of waivers on Wednesday.

Skelton was cut loose before Arizona completed a trade for Carson Palmer but the deal was close enough that they weren’t losing anything by releasing him.

The Bengals recently added Josh Johnson as their backup quarterback to Andy Dalton, but it’s not surprising to see them target some additional depth. The problem is that it’s hard to say if they’re getting much with Skelton.

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Update:

Darren Urban of AzCardinals.com reports that the Cardinals have released QB John Skelton.

Urban adds that this is a good indication that a trade for Carson Palmer will be completed at some point in the near future.

Restricted free agent Brian Hoyer signed his tender on Monday, which means Arizona can now begin fielding offers for him.

Jason La Canfora mentioned that the Browns could be an option now that they’ve traded Colt McCoy to the 49ers.

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Jason La Canfora reports that the Cardinals could look to trade QB Brian Hoyer for a late-round pick in the coming days now that Carson Palmer looks to be headed to Arizona.

• La Canfora adds that the Browns could have interest in Hoyer.
• Ian Rapoport mentions that Hoyer has been on the trading block for weeks.
• Rapoport mentions that the Steelers were “very interested” in Hoyer before they signed QB Bruce Gradkowski.

Hoyer received a second-round tender from the Cardinals worth $2.023 million for the upcoming season, so it makes sense that they would now consider all available options with Palmer and Drew Stanton likely competing for the starting job.

Ian Rapoport reports that the Cardinals will likely release a quarterback following the Palmer trade and John Skelton looks to be the odd-man out.