What have we learned most of this week?
The Bengals are finally taking the Carson Palmer threat seriously enough to look at quarterbacks in this year's NFL Draft. There's a possibility that the Bengals could draft either Auburn's Cam Newton or Missouri's Blaine Gabbert with their fourth overall draft pick. There's also the possibility that the team could go with A.J. Green at wide receiver or a defensive lineman, where the draft is very deep while drafting a quarterback later in the draft -- like Arkansas' Ryan Mallett or maybe even TCU's Andy Dalton.
Either way. There has been as much clarity regarding the Bengals as a blind man would receive whether prescription glasses.
But if the Bengals do go with a quarterback, Jay Gruden wants a leader.
"I want to know if he can lead our team and has any type of charisma," Gruden said. "Is he a boring guy in the huddle mumbling? I want a guy who can speak up and people can rally around, that’s half the battle right there. You have to at least sell that your good and you believe that the play can work even though it may not. You have to at least make other people believe in you. That’s the most important thing. Whether or not he is reading the same way I would teach read is not important as long as he has a general idea about defenses and progressions which 90 percent can do. I want to see their charisma and leadership skills and how they communicate."
Gruden didn't give anything away as for the team's plans, saying that they could draft a quarterback in the first five rounds, or maybe see a returning Carson Palmer putting "furniture back in" his house.
Additionally, the Bengals offensive coordinator doesn't believe much can be learned at the NFL Combine this weekend.
"The thing about evaluating a QB that people don’t understand. You can’t tell how good he is by a spiral he throws at the combine. There’s so much from the time the ball is snapped until he hands it off or throws it that he has to do. The poise and pressure, how he handles third down, how he handles getting booed, he handles getting intercepted and coming back. When you go in the tank can he come back. Is he mentally tough or is he a mental midget. If a receiver comes out and chews him out how is he going to handle that? Is he going to be a leader, stand up and follow him. You can’t tell that by a 15-minute interview or going in there and meeting him at a school. That’s why that position there are so many mistakes."