Many would argue that Carson Palmer is the best quarterback that the Bengals have had in their franchises history.  This will be a tough argument to hold with anyone, due to the fact that Palmer has put up great numbers since coming to the Bengals as the first pick in the 2003 NFL draft from USC.  There are two other former Bengals quarterbacks who should get a serious look also.  These two quarterbacks are Ken Anderson and Boomer Esiason.

  Ken Anderson was a third round draft pick, taken sixty seventh overall in the 1971 NFL Draft.  He hailed from Augustana College in Illinois, and is the only Alumni from there to see significant playing time in the NFL.  He was a four time Pro Bowler and was also a First Team All Pro in 1981.  His most memorable season, was in 1982 when he took the Bengals to the Super Bowl, where they would lose to the San Francisco 49ers 26-21.  Anderson led the league in completion percentage, and completions thrown in that season.  Anderson holds Bengals records in career passing yards with 32,838, and197 Touchdown passes.  He also leads in Completions, and Games Played.  This gives him a serious case to be considered the greatest Bengals Quarterback.

 When Bengals and Quarterback are mentioned in the same sentence, one of the other names to come up is Boomer Esiason.  Boomer was a second round draft pick out of the University of Maryland, taken thirty eighth overall in the 1984 NFL Draft.  He would play 10 years in a Bengals uniform, becoming a four time Pro Bowler, and a First Team All Pro in 1988.  During the 1988 season, Esiason threw for 28 touchdowns leading the Bengals all the way to the Super Bowl, where they eventually lost to the 49ers, 20-16.  Esiason threw for over twenty thousand yards while wearing a Bengals uniform.  He trails Anderson for the team record by just under 5700 yards.  He only trails Anderson for the club record in touchdown passes by 10.  Anderson threw for 197, compared to Esiason’s 187. 

It is easy to see that Anderson owns the team records, over Esiason in every major category.  Here’s the catch, Anderson played for the Bengals six years longer than Esiason, if Boomer had six more season in a Bengals uniform he easily would have surpassed Anderson in every major category making him the obvious choice for the Greatest Quarterback in Bengals History.

Enter Carson Palmer, who has only played five seasons for the Bengals, after being the first overall selection in the 2003 NFL Draft.  In the five seasons Palmer has already been elected to the Pro Bowl twice.  Palmer has averaged nearly 3200 yards passing per season in his first five seasons, while averaging 21 Touchdowns per season as well.  If you take these numbers, and average out Palmer’s next five seasons, which would be equivalent to Esiason’s ten years as a Bengal.  Statistically speaking, Palmer after ten seasons in a Bengals uniform would surpass both Anderson and Esiason in Touchdown Passes and would exceed Esiason’s passing yards, and come very close to passing Anderson. Palmer’s statistics after 10 seasons, with these averages would equal 31,260 passing yards, and 214 Touchdown passes respectively.

After breaking down these statistics, and averaging Palmer’s next five years in a Bengals uniform, it is easy to see that Palmer should surpass Esiason and Anderson statistically.  The only thing Palmer doesn’t have, that the other two quarterbacks do, is a First Team All Pro Selection, and a trip to the Super Bowl.  With Palmer’s ability, those two things could be attained in the next five years of his career.  There will always be an argument about who is the Greatest Bengals Quarterback of All Time, however, with these statistical breakdowns it is easy to see that Palmer, at the end of his career could hold the record for every Quarterback statistic in Bengals history.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 20th, 2009 at 8:46 pm and is filed under AFC, AFC North, Cincinnati Bengals, Football. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.