Who were we wanting instead of Palmer?

[walzav29]

I remember Marv's 1st draft, and I didn't want to have to start all over with a new QB. Still smarting from the Klingler\Smith agony. What I can't remember was who all of us Bengal fans wanted instead of Palmer. I don't want to hear from you genius's that said that Palmer was going to be good. I want to hear from the guys that thought another QB was a bad way to go.

[skyline]

I wanted a QB, but I was kind of up in the air between Palmer and Leftwich.

It's fun to go back and look at that first round draft board. A lot of names on there that will make you smile a little.

[jjakq27]

I personally liked Palmer before and after he was picked.

I think there was some discussion about going for defense since Marvin had been "the man" in that area. CB Terrence Newman (Kansas State) and DT Dewayne Robertson (Kentucky) were the two names I remember hearing about.

On offense I can remember people say that it was a toss up between Byron Leftwich (Marshall) and Palmer. The knock on Leftwich was the level of competition in the league he played in (MAC). While the doubters on Palmer said that he might have been the product of the USC system and had been in the system for four years but only had the great senior year.

I recall some of the draft gurus saying the Bengals should trade down for more picks or take a defensive player with the pick and then take Kyle Boller with the first pick of the second round if he is still available. I'm glad that scenario didn't happen.

1st Round 2003 Draft

1 Cincinnati Carson Palmer QB Southern California

2 Detroit Charles Rogers WR Michigan State

3 Houston Andre Johnson WR Miami

4 N.Y. Jets Dewayne Robertson DT Kentucky

5 Dallas Terence Newman CB Kansas State

6 New Orleans Johnathan Sullivan DT Georgia

7 Jacksonville Byron Leftwich QB Marshall

8 Carolina Jordan Gross T Utah

9 Minnesota Kevin Williams DT Oklahoma State

10 Baltimore Terrell Suggs OLB Arizona State

http://www.nfl.com/draft/history/years/2003

[PhunkE1]

I know the guy I wanted was Terance Newman. I felt that CB was our most glaring weakness. Needless to say I'm pretty happy with the Palmer pick now

[turningpoint]

ehh who knowsi wanted a guard and we got stienbach with the #34 pick so ican't complain. Not a guard with the 1st pick.. i wanted to trade down.

[skyline]

nonono Julias Peppers when #2 carolinia rodgers was #3..i'm almost certain.

Nope:

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfldraft/tracker/round?round=1

[HairOnFire]

I remember Marv's 1st draft, and I didn't want to have to start all over with a new QB. Still smarting from the Klingler\Smith agony. What I can't remember was who all of us Bengal fans wanted instead of Palmer. I don't want to hear from you genius's that said that Palmer was going to be good. I want to hear from the guys that thought another QB was a bad way to go.

Too bad. I screw up enough that I'm not going to miss a chance to pat myself on the back when I get one THIS right.

Palmer was my first choice from day one. Pimped him hard and pimped him long. Argued all day with the local Huddles draft guru, a Leftwich pimp, until his manhood began to shrink up. No kidding, what a dink. He spent months arguing that Palmer was a one-year wonder and almost all of his anti-Palmer rants were stat based. I actually began to wonder if he'd ever seen Palmer play. Worse, he ran the Bengals mock draft and traded away the 1st overall pick before selecting Dave Ragone later in the draft. I couldn't tell you after the mock draft how many Bengal fans said they wished he was the GM. Oh, I almost forgot that he had an equally stupid sidekick who claimed Palmer wasn't smart enough to play QB in the NFL and Iowa would expose Palmer in the bowl game. I laughed and said Palmer would gut Iowa like so many fish. Good times.

Back to the real point of your thread, at one point we all expanded our short lists so other players could be discussed. Palmer was always my first choice but for awhile I had him and Terence Newman at the top with Terrell Suggs a distant third. I absolutely hated Jimmy Kennedy, and I ignored both of the wideouts, Rogers and Andre Johnson because I didn't see the need. That said, I have to give props to our new boy, Bengalfreek, because I remember he took plenty of flak for stating Johnson would be better than Rogers.

I think it stuck in my head because he'd never been right about anything before.

[JohnsonX5]

I know the guy I wanted was Terance Newman. I felt that CB was our most glaring weakness. Needless to say I'm pretty happy with the Palmer pick now

I wanted Newman also. I always thought Kitna would be good enough to get us to the playoffs if we just improved our defense, and I did not want risk going with another qb who could possibly turn out to be a bust ala Klingler and Smith. But I think this season Palmer is about to prove why he was definitely worth the first pick.

[turningpoint]

nonono Julias Peppers when #2 carolinia rodgers was #3..i'm almost certain.

Nope:

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfldraft/tracker/round?round=1

yeah he went 2 in the 2002 draft...btw has any1 seen the 1st round of that 02 draft my lord you could have one ofthe best teams in the nfl if you could just take those 32 players..........in fact it would be pretty much hof talent.

Ed reed, julias peppers dwight freeny, The dallas safety williams....that's just insane why we didn't get one of those...

[skyline]

nonono Julias Peppers when #2 carolinia rodgers was #3..i'm almost certain.

Nope:

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfldraft/tracker/round?round=1

yeah he went 2 in the 2002 draft...btw has any1 seen the 1st round of that 02 draft my lord you could have one ofthe best teams in the nfl if you could just take those 32 players..........in fact it would be pretty much hof talent.

Ed reed, julias peppers dwight freeny, The dallas safety williams....that's just insane why we didn't get one of those...

I remember screaming for Freeny, but everyone said he was too small...

I watched him play enough to know that he was for real.

[TecmoFever]

I wanted Terrance Newman as well, but not with the #1 pick. If there was any way that we could have traded down to #3, 4 or 5, I thought that was the way to go.

I definitely liked Palmer more than Leftwich, and I definitely liked Andre Johnson more than Rogers. I was afraid of anyone from the University of Kentucky.

I'm sure glad (now) we got CP when we had the chance. I was a doubter before the draft, though.

[Sox]

I was the bengals GM in two mock drafts.

In one draft,I kept the first pick and selected Palmer.

In the other,I traded down to the five spot(I think),received an additional second and a fifth,and selected Newman.

I'm happy with the Palmer pick,to say the least.

[bengalfreek]

Palmer was my first choice from day one. Pimped him hard and pimped him long.

I thought you were a big Terence Newman fan. I do recall distinctly that you preferred Palmer over Leftwich, but I thought you wanted the CB over either. No?

[AGrizzlyBaer]

i remember in the levi draft i really wanted phillip bucannon *snicker*

[BengalszoneBilly]

The Bengals selecting Carson Palmer as the #1 pick in the 2003 NFL Draft was one of the biggest "No Brainer" picks in NFL Draft HISTORY!!

I remember "Googling" for NFL Mock Drafts just for that particular reason, (...and it was also the first time I surfed into Bengalszone! Never been able to catch the wave out though! I suppose there isn't one. ) and I remember the incredible vast majority of the "Guru's" doing' these colossal wastes of business and personal time had Palmer going #1 with Cincy.

I vividly remember one comment made by an analyst saying "Carson Palmer is a lock for going #1 this year. Even Mike Brown shouldn't mess this one up!"

Thank God he was right about that! :player:

[The_Next_Big_Thing]

I don't remember wanting anyone else. But then again, Palmer was all but signed and drafted pretty much as soon as the previous season was over, so there wasn't much to think about that time. It was one of the ONLY first round picks of the decade that didn't hold out.

[BengalByTheBay]

I was a trade down for Newman guy. You may all recall offenses throwing at will on our secondary for a decade. I was also concerned that CP was not worth the top overall pick for us. I believe we may have looked at that move, but that every other team felt that we were trying to bail out from #1 and were leveraging that against us. At any rate, as the draft approached it became increasingly clear that we were taking CP and at least that gave me some time to get used to the idea. That, together with the Patriots/Indy game that resulted in the "illegal contact" rule, makes me happy we didn't go with Newman. I still think he can be a great CB, but the idea of a "shutdown" CB has kinda changed over the interim. However, for all you Palmer jockers, yes, I'm happy with the way he is working out -- how can you not?

[BengalszoneBilly]

I don't remember wanting anyone else. But then again, Palmer was all but signed and drafted pretty much as soon as the previous season was over, so there wasn't much to think about that time. It was one of the ONLY first round picks of the decade that didn't hold out.

Which only adds to his already awesome image of a classy, intelligent, reasonable, not greedy, focused on the big picture, TEAM goal oriented, straight forward, man of his word persona.

In otherwords...everything that T.O. AIN'T!! I couldn't be happier any about it either!

[redsbengalsbucks]

I have to admit I was not totally sold with Palmer, but glad I was wrong.

I can say the same for C. Perry and hope I was wrong.

[HairOnFire]

Palmer was my first choice from day one. Pimped him hard and pimped him long.

I thought you were a big Terence Newman fan. I do recall distinctly that you preferred Palmer over Leftwich, but I thought you wanted the CB over either. No?

Nope. You may have gotten distracted by the side rant about whether any CB deserved to be considered with the 1st overall pick. I argued strongly that they should. As I said, I ranked Palmer & Newman evenly for awhile, calling them 1A and 1B, and then made adjustments after the bowl games, combines, and individual workouts. So in hindsight I guess I might have overstated things a bit by saying Palmer was my first pick from day one as he was actually one of two players that I felt were worthy of the 1st overall pick. But Palmer quickly emerged as my 1st choice, Newman a close 2nd, the unpopular choice of Suggs was a distant 3rd, and I usually listed Leftwich as 4th best. But after awhile it seemed silly to list two QB's on the same short list so I eventually dropped the fat kid altogether.

[AGrizzlyBaer]

i was always impressed though with leftwichs drive on the broken bone. man that showed guts

[cHaD711Johnson]

In the Levi draft I was all for Shockey, Buchanon or Reed because I'm a big UM fan. I wanted Ed Reed because he was a real leader on the Miami team.

I was a guy who wanted Leftwich. I'm very ahppy with the pick now though. Leftwich's broken leg scared everybody and I'm glad we didn't get him because he is one of the slowest QBs in the league.

[DC_Bengals_Fan]

In the Levi draft I was all for Shockey, Buchanon or Reed because I'm a big UM fan. I wanted Ed Reed because he was a real leader on the Miami team.

I was a guy who wanted Leftwich. I'm very ahppy with the pick now though. Leftwich's broken leg scared everybody and I'm glad we didn't get him because he is one of the slowest QBs in the league.

Slow? Eh, who cares? Leftwich is proving to be a great QB - he was easily worht being drafted where he was.

The only question is, in hindsight, whet the Bengals would have gotten for a trade down from #1 to #7, to wager which QB is better for his spot. What round pick would a drop from 1 to 7 get? An extra 3rd rounder?

[Stripes]

The only question is, in hindsight, whet the Bengals would have gotten for a trade down from #1 to #7, to wager which QB is better for his spot. What round pick would a drop from 1 to 7 get? An extra 3rd rounder?

That is an intriguing thought. I would have probably loved it at the time (if we could nail the third rounder) but now that I know what I do, I'm glad we just went with Palmer.

[dave]

Oh, I almost forgot that he had an equally stupid sidekick who claimed Palmer wasn't smart enough to play QB in the NFL and Iowa would expose Palmer in the bowl game.

I was just thinking the other day about listening to Mike & Mike on ESPN and hearing the guy who analyzes QBs by brain type say that Palmer didn't have the right wiring to be a top-shelf QB. Didn't say that it wasn't possible, but said it was unlikely. Tool.