Carson Palmer had a shaky start last season as he was overcoming Kimo Von Oelhoffen’s cheap shot in the playoffs the year earlier that blew out his knee.  Palmer appeared skittish in the pocket the first half of the season but he looked like his old self in the second half of the season.  The Bengals are betting that Palmer will stay healthy all season long because their backup QBs don’t have much potential to keep the Bengals out of last place if one of them were forced to play.  Palmer started all 16 games last season and he completed 324 of 520 passes (62.3%) for 4,035 yards with 28 TD passes and 13 INTs (93.9 QB Rating).  He also carried the football 26 times for 37 yards (1.4 ypc).  Palmer has been everything in his NFL career that the Bengals thought he would be when they drafted him.  He has played in 45 games (all starts) and he’s completed 932 of 1,461 (63.8%) for 10,768 yards with 78 TD passes and 43 INTs (91.5 QB Rating).  He also has carried the ball 78 times for 125 yards (1.6 ypc) with 2 TD runs.

Doug Johnson was the Bengals third string QB last season but he will be elevated to the #2 job this season as the Bengals let Anthony Wright leave as a free agent.  Hopefully, he won’t have to play at all for the Bengals this season either.  Johnson has played in 25 games (11 starts) in his career and he’s completed 218 of 384 passes (56.8%) for 2,600 yards with 13 TD passes and 18 INTs (69.4 QB Rating).  He also has carried the ball 32 times for 58 yards (1.8 ypc) with 2 TD runs.

The Bengals drafted Jeff Rowe from Nevada to develop as a future backup.  He likely will be the #3 QB for the Bengals this season.

Chinedum Ndukwe is a good pass defender but he’s softer than a roll of Charmin against the run and that will be a huge problem for him in the NFL.  It’s amazing for him to be so soft against the run when you consider that he’s 6′1″ and weighs 217 pounds.  He will likely make the Bengals as a backup safety because he’s a good special teams player and he behaves off of the field which means he might have a hard time relating to his teammates on the Bengals.

The Bengals were looking for good character guys so they raided Notre Dame in the 7th round.  Santucci is a tough guy that plays until the whistle blows.  He’s a little small at 6′3″, 299 pounds but he’s versatile as he can handle either guard or center.  He’s much better in a confined area than in space but maybe that’s something the Bengals coaches can work on him with.  He played in 48 games at Notre Dame and started 26 of them.  Look for him to be a solid backup and maybe an eventual starter down the line for the Bengals.

The Bengals needed some depth in the interior of their defensive line and Matt Toeaina should fit the bill.  Toeaina is a bull fighter as he’s tough as nails but he’s had to work hard for everything he’s gotten as he’s not a great athlete.  His effort will earn him a spot in the Bengals DT rotation this season.  At Oregon, Toeaina played in 48 games (27 starts) and he made 92 tackles, 13 tackles for a loss, 4.5 sacks, batted down 4 passes and recovered 4 fumbles.  This was a solid pick by the Bengals.

The Bengals wanted to draft a developmental QB to groom behind Carson Palmer so they used their 5th round pick on Jeff Rowe out of Nevada.  Rowe doesn’t have a big arm and Nevada ran a lot of their offense out of the shotgun so Rowe will need to adjust to playing under the center.  Still, the Bengals have time to take it slow with Jeff Rowe.  Rowe has nice size at 6′4″, 225 pounds and he is a decent runner as he can run a 4.85 40.  Rowe played in 35 games (29 starts) at Nevada, and he completed 682 of 1,122 passes (60.8%) for 7,862 yards with 54 TD passes and 34 INT.