By Mark Curnutte
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Akili Smith might have a couple of weeks to complicate the Bengals' draft decision.

The Bengals are considering two quarterbacks - Carson Palmer and Byron Leftwich - as possible first overall picks. But Smith has come into the offseason conditioning program determined to make a good showing.

If the Bengals take a QB, Smith thinks he will be released.

"I don't think they'll keep me and a first-round pick," Smith said Wednesday, three days into the strength program. "I guess my day will be June 1."

If the Bengals wait to cut Smith on or after June 1, they can absorb the remaining $4.62 million of his $10.8 million signing bonus against the salary cap this year and next.

After four frustrating seasons with the Bengals, Smith, the No. 3 pick of the 1999 draft, is more optimistic than ever about his career. He said he would compete hard for playing time. The source of his enthusiasm is coach Marvin Lewis and the changes Lewis has instituted in 10 weeks.

"The changes that they've made, little things like lunch (during the conditioning program), the (remodeled) weight room, some of the decisions Mike (Brown) is letting Marvin make are positive," Smith said. "It's what people have been waiting on. It's positive. It's looking great."

Even though Lewis said incumbent Jon Kitna would come into training camp as the starter - Joe Germaine is the third quarterback currently on the roster - Smith is being watched.

"It's only been two days, but I like what I've seen. I liked him when he came out (from college)," Bengals first-year quarterbacks coach Ken Zampese said Wednesday of Smith. "He throws the ball well with good velocity.

"He's been very receptive to new ideas. He communicates well, and that's very important in that position."

In four seasons, Smith started 17 games and completed 46.6 percent of his passes with five touchdowns and 13 interceptions. He started Game 4 in 2002 against Tampa Bay but didn't play the remainder of the season.

In today's NFL, it's not uncommon for quarterbacks to struggle early in their careers before finding success later on.

Lewis is the Bengals' third coach in Smith's tenure. In that time, Smith has bounced from franchise-saving quarterback to obscurity as the emergency third QB on Sunday. Three years ago, Brown and former coach Bruce Coslet said the team would go as far as Smith could carry it.

Playing with a pair of starting rookie wide receivers, an overmatched left tackle and a run-oriented new coach (Dick LeBeau, who took over when Coslet resigned), Smith was benched after 10 games in 2000. The organization seemed to sour on him.

Smith has a mature perspective. If not in Cincinnati, he is confident he will be successful somewhere in the NFL.

"The situation a young quarterback would step into now, as opposed to the situation I stepped into, is just night and day," he said. "If they do decide to take a quarterback with the first pick, it's night and day from what I stepped myself into.

"All being said, that's still no excuse for me not producing better than I did. But everybody who knows the interior of what has happened this year and what happened the past 12 years knows that things are different. If they do decide to draft one, he'll be in a good situation."

E-mail mcurnutte@enquirer.com