Open Thread: Round By Round Top-Five Bengals Draft Picks

In recent weeks, we've put together a list of the best first and second round draft picks during the Marvin Lewis era. Carson Palmer is our pick for best first round pick during that time frame, as Andrew Whitworth is our pick for best second round pick. The idea was simple. To generate discussion and debates.

But the truth is, the first two rounds were as easy as shuffling names.

There's no way we'd include Chris Perry and Andre Smith is still very much in the air. David Pollack's career ended during the second week in 2006. The second round wasn't much harder. After you get past the five we listed, you had Jerome Simpson, Kenny Irons and Keiwan Ratliff. While Odell Thurman had a fantastic rookie season, that was his only rookie season and there's more reasons than not to exclude him from the super-mega-awesome list.

We plan on going through the next five rounds. But let's take the time to recap our lists and debate whether or not you agree.

Best First Round Picks [Link]

1. Carson Palmer
2. Johnathan Joseph
3. Leon Hall
4. Jermaine Gresham
5. Keith Rivers

Best Second Round Picks

1. Andrew Whitworth [Link]
2. Eric Steinbach [Link]
3. Madieu Williams [Link]
4. Carlos Dunlap [Link]
5. Rey Maualuga [Link]