"Cedric Benson made headlines last week for an appearance on Sirius NFL Radio's "Late Hits" program when he said if quarterback Carson Palmer returned to the Bengals after demanding a trade, it would be "detrimental to the team."

But that was only part of the comments made by Benson, the Bengals' leading rusher the past three seasons. There is mutual respect between the two players, and what Benson said after "detrimental" is what a lot of players are thinking.

"Don't lock a man down whom you know won't be happy if he stays," Benson said. "He's the quarterback. I looked up to him when he was there and I'm sure many of the other guys did. If he's there and not happy he's not going to give us his best, he's not going to give us that extra time in the film room and weight room because he's not happy. In a way we'll all kind of suffer for that. ... If he's not happy in Cincinnati, he's not going to have passion.""