Lewis
After spending the most unusual offseason of any NFL player, Lewis is ready to pick up where he left off as a 2,000-yard rusher in 2003. Sentenced to jail for allowing his cell phone to be used in a drug deal before he even entered the NFL, Lewis got plenty of time to re-focus after a 1,000-yard season in 2004.

The Baltimore Ravens finally have receivers in ex-Tennessee Titans' star Derrick Mason and the most polished rookie in Oklahoma's Mark Clayton. Both should take pressure off emerging quarterback Kyle Boller. But Lewis has the youth and talent and drive to regain his stature as the main threat in an AFC North division that likes to run.

Cincinnati's Rudi Johnson outrushed Lewis last year and Pittsburgh old Jerome Bettis was only a few yards behind. That isn't likely to happen again.

Palmer
The league's No. 1 draft choice in 2003, Palmer showed flashes of why in his first season as the Cincinnati Bengals starter, improving with nearly every outing. In his first seven games, his passer efficiency rating was 66.8. In his final six starts his rating was 96.9.

Palmer has talented receivers in Chad Johnson and T. J. Housmandzadeh and a solid runner in Rudi Johnson. He operates behind excellent tackles Levi Jones and Willie Anderson. If coach Marvin Lewis's defense doesn't force Palmer to play catch-up, the guy looks like he can do more for the Bengals than last year's phenom Ben Roethlisberger did for Pittsburgh.

As a No. 1 overall pick, Palmer hopes to get to the top before the two top picks before him--Michael Vick and David Carr. Surely he expects to get there before the two who came after-Eli Manning and Alex Smith.

Slide show: The Week in Sports Pictures   Oct. 3 - 9 Images from the baseball playoffs, NFL, college football, and more.

Who knows? Maybe he'll beat 1998 No. 1 pick Peyton Manning. The last quarterback picked No. 1 overall to win it all was Denver's John Elway. He was drafted in 1983 and won in 1997 and 1998. Dallas's Troy Aikman, drafted in 1989, won in 1992-93-95. Somebody's bound to do it again.  

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