By Mark Curnutte
The Cincinnati Enquirer

INDIANAPOLIS - The Bengals are examining all possible ways their first overall pick in the April draft could play out.

They could keep the pick and use it on one of six players - and not necessarily a quarterback - or the club could trade down for an additional choice in the first three rounds.

However it plays out, coach Marvin Lewis said Wednesday at the NFL scouting combine that the team will not be caught flat-footed.

"We've done all of the research," he said.

A trade is not out of the question, although short of Southern California quarterback Carson Palmer, there is no clear first overall pick in this draft.

"There comes a great value with that pick, to the club, people trying to acquire it," Lewis said. "It is a big chunk of your cap, if it indeed is a quarterback, for the next five to seven years."

Including this calendar year, the Bengals have three more years to absorb the salary-cap hit of the $10.8 million signing bonus they paid backup quarterback Akili Smith in 1999. He was the third overall pick that year from Oregon but has been disappointing as a pro.

Lewis, who last week told the Enquirer that he also likes Marshall quarterback Byron Leftwich and Michigan State wide receiver Charles Rogers with the first overall pick, added three defensive players to the mix Wednesday.

He said the club is looking at Kansas State cornerback Terence Newman and defensive tackles Jimmy Kennedy of Penn State and William Joseph of Miami (Fla.).

"There are a lot of prospects that are going to warrant the possibility of being the first pick in the draft," Lewis said.

The top six prospects correspond to positions he has identified as needing upgrades.

He listed wide receiver, defensive line, cornerback, offensive line and quarterback as areas of need - in addition to retaining free agent linebacker Takeo Spikes.

Even if the Bengals keep the top pick and use it to take Palmer, he will not start, Lewis said. Jon Kitna will remain the starter.

"We have a group of guys who are in their third through seventh or eighth year in the league, whose window of opportunity and chance to be successful (is closing)," Lewis said. "They've endured being at the bottom. And if we're going to make a jump, we need to make the jump now. To start again and say you're going to go through it with a rookie quarterback, I don't know if that's quite fair to those guys. In their minds, there's a little bit of a fear."

A trade is a possibility. Chicago (at No. 4 overall), Arizona (No. 5) and Carolina (No. 9) are teams in need of quarterbacks. The Cardinals are trying to re-sign free agent Jake Plummer.

Bears general manager Jerry Angelo said they are looking at options in free agency and the draft.

"The draft pool is as deep as eight at quarterback," Angelo said. "Any one of them could have the chance to start in this league. Next year's draft is going to be real good again."

Said Lewis: "You want to gain an additional pick out of the deal. If we can garner that on the first day, we would have really helped ourselves. But we're five or six players away from competing with our division leaders and competing for the playoffs."

E-mail mcurnutte@enquirer.com

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