By Mark Curnutte
The Cincinnati Enquirer

INDIANAPOLIS - Carson Palmer and Byron Leftwich are not known for their footwork, but on Friday both deftly sidestepped the Bengals' grisly history with quarterbacks drafted in the first round.

Speaking with reporters at the annual NFL scouting combine, the top two quarterbacks in an impressive draft class had nothing but good words for the Bengals.

Leftwich, the Marshall quarterback who is the size of an outside linebacker, denied comments he reportedly made on a Columbus radio show in the fall.

Leftwich said on WBNS-AM that he had a nightmare in which NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue announces that the Bengals have selected Leftwich with the first pick of the 2003 draft. A station producer confirmed Friday that Leftwich made the nightmare comment.

"I never said that. I never said that," Leftwich said when asked about the comments Friday. "That wasn't me. I would love to go to Cincinnati with the No. 1 pick. It doesn't matter what team it is. It's a dream to me to play in the National Football League."

Palmer, the Heisman Trophy winner from Southern California, answered eight questions about the Bengals during his news conference. As a result of their league-worst 2-14 record, the Bengals have the first overall pick in the April 26-27 draft.

And without trying to insult David Klingler and Akili Smith, Palmer nonetheless tried to distance himself from the other two quarterbacks taken by the Bengals in the first round since 1992.

Klingler played four seasons with the Bengals, throwing 16 touchdown passes and 21 interceptions and getting sacked 83 times. Smith also has played for four years in Cincinnati, winning just three of his 17 starts before finding himself exiled to No. 3 emergency quarterback on the depth chart.

"It's a new deal," said Palmer, whose agent, David Dunn, is former partners with Leigh Steinberg, who represented Klingler and Smith.

"Well, I think I'm different than those guys," Palmer said. "I think I'm a different player, a different person, than the guys they've drafted in the past. I haven't met a whole lot of people like me. I look for the positives going into everything. And whether it's Cincinnati or wherever, I'm going to go in and think I'm going to be able to turn it around and win a lot of games."

Bengals coach Marvin Lewis said he is interested in both Palmer and Leftwich, among other players, as possible No. 1 picks. Lewis also has said the team might trade the pick.

"He has been a good leader," Lewis said of Palmer. "He's been a guy who has been successful at all levels of his play. He's got that."

Of Leftwich, Lewis said: "He's got great stature. He's been in an offense that has thrown the football quite a bit. He's been in a successful program. He played through an injury when he couldn't even move. He has done a lot of great things."

Leftwich suffered a hairline fracture in the left tibia during Marshall's Nov. 2 loss at Akron. That's the game his offensive linemen carried him down field after a long pass completion when Leftwich could not run.

"Leg's doing fine," Leftwich said Friday. "I'm finally 100 percent."

Leftwich also suffered a stress fracture at a different spot in the same leg during the 2001 season.

Asked if he thought having two injuries in the same leg might scare off some teams, Leftwich said: "I caught the chicken pox twice, too. It's just like hurting two different fingers, but it's a finger. So somehow you've got finger problems."

Palmer overcame different kinds of problems - coaching and offensive system changes - at Southern Cal to vault to the top of the draft class and onto the Bengals' radar screen.

Palmer had a chance meeting with Bengals president Mike Brown at January's Senior Bowl and on Friday called Brown an "awesome guy."

Palmer met with Lewis on Friday and said, "Looking at the Cincinnati deal, it's a great deal: great receivers, one of the better running backs (Corey Dillon) in the game, very good young offensive line, and a defensive-minded coach. So it's a great opportunity for whoever winds up there."

The Bengals are a composite 55-137 since last making the playoffs following the 1990 season. Their postseason drought is the longest in a league built on parity and twice as long as the next most suffering franchise. Seven of the Bengals' past 12 first-round picks have been in the top five. All but two have been in the top 10.

"There has been a lot of negative talk," Palmer said of what he initially heard about the Bengals. "Any time you're losing, they're going to talk bad about you and find all the things wrong. Of course they're not going to say any good things about a team when they're losing games."

E-mail mcurnutte@enquirer.com

Quarterback class

Half a dozen quarterbacks have emerged at the top of a solid draft class. (Stats are from 2002.)

Name	School	Ht.	Wt.	TD	INT	Yards	Comment
Carson Palmer	USC	6-5	235	32	10	3,639	Outstanding arm, size and decision-making skills, not a running threat.
Byron Leftwich	Marshall	6-6	240	26	9	4,019	Great size and arm strength but played against mediocre competition.
Rex Grossman	Florida	6-01/2	220	20	17	3,079	Makes up for lack of height with strong arm and toughness; very competitive.
Chris Simms	Texas	6-41/2	223	24	11	2,938	Nice touch and arm strength but has bad habit of forcing ball into traffic.
Kyle Boller	California	6-3	220	28	10	2,815	Mobile with strong arm; a definite work in progress who continues to improve.
Dave Ragone	Louisville	6-4	250	24	11	2,880	Big, strong player with lineman's mentality; solid leader.

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