CINCINNATI (AP) -- Carson Palmer has a backup who can look him directly in the eye.
Tired of looking for veterans willing to sit and watch their Pro Bowl passer, the Cincinnati Bengals drafted a backup quarterback in the fifth round on Sunday. Nevada's Jeff Rowe is the same size as Palmer a shade under 6-foot-5, in the neighborhood of 225 pounds and has a nice touch on his throws as well.
Now, he gets to try to become more like him.
"The thing with me: I want to make this a career," Rowe said. "The best way to do that is to get into the league, learn the ropes and get into the best possible situation. And I think it's a pretty good situation."
The Bengals thought the same thing.
They've had trouble holding onto players willing to be a backup to Palmer, who made an unexpectedly fast recovery from reconstructive knee surgery last season. Jon Kitna moved on to Detroit and a chance to start after the 2005 season, and Anthony Wright left after spending last season in Cincinnati at No. 2.
So, a team with a woeful defense decided it might as well draft another quarterback.
"It kind of gives us the opportunity to develop another young quarterback and not have to necessarily always get into that quarterback carousel after the season all the time," coach Marvin Lewis said.
With that, the Bengals' quarterback rotation is set. Palmer's current backup is Doug Johnson, who didn't get into a game last season and agreed to a one-year deal in the offseason.
It's a significant fifth-round choice. Given the way quarterbacks get hurt in the NFL, a team with playoff aspirations must have a dependable backup. Eventually, Rowe will be it.
First, he's got to learn how to run a pro-style offense.
He took snaps out of the shotgun and rolled out at Nevada, running the option. He'll have to adjust to playing under center and staying in the pocket. The Bengals like his size, his arm strength and the touch on his passes.
"We know what we're drafting a guy to do," offensive coordinator Bob Bratkowski said. "The rest is up to him. He's not locked here for the rest of his career. He's got a chance to come in and learn from a very, very good quarterback. You would hope a guy that you draft eventually, at some point in time, will end up being a No. 2."
A team that needs to significantly improve its defense wound up taking a running back (Auburn's Kenny Irons) and a quarterback with two of its first four draft picks.
Lewis was defensive on Sunday about the team's draft strategy. The Bengals chose Michigan cornerback Leon Hall in the first round and Texas Christian safety Marvin White in the fourth round.
They had no third-round pick they forfeited it after taking linebacker Ahmad Brooks in the third round of the supplemental draft.
"We would have liked to pick a defensive player (instead of Irons), but it would have been a reach," Lewis said. "We would have been reaching for a guy with that pick, and you guys would ask me three years from now why that guy hasn't played."
For the first time in three years, Lewis didn't have to answer questions about his draft picks' problems. The Bengals made character a priority in this draft, after six picks from the last two got arrested.
Before they took White in the fourth round, they made sure his arrest during high school was nothing worrisome. White comes from a difficult family situation, and got into a fight with his stepfather that resulted in an arrest. The charges later were dropped, but the Bengals were wary.
"They asked me about that a lot," White said. "These days, with players in trouble and stuff like that, they brought up a lot of stuff like that. They wanted to know what type of guy I was and know that they were getting a good guy."
