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As initially reported by Associated Press sports writer Joe Kay, the Bengals promoted Carson Palmer ahead of quarterback Jon Kitna on Monday, placing their future in the hands of a Heisman Trophy winner who has yet to take a snap in the NFL.

Kitna won the Comeback Player of the Year award for leading the Bengals into playoff contention last season, but Palmer has the stronger arm and the much bigger contract.

He expected to be the starter heading into mini-camp, and wasn't surprised when head coach Marvin Lewis informed him of the decision.

"I was extremely happy, but I've got a lot of work to do and a lot of preparation to get ready," Palmer said told Kay when reached by cell phone Monday, as he drove to a charity golf tournament in San Diego. "It's definitely what I wanted, and I've just got to get ready to win some games now."

Lewis announced the switch on Monday, giving his players time to get used to the idea that an inexperienced quarterback is now leading them.

And as Bengals.com staffer Geoff Hobson suggested, Lewis realizes his decision is going to stir a season of questions. He is giving the reigns of a team that appears to be on the verge of the playoffs to a guy who didn't take a single snap as a rookie last season. And, taking them away from a respected team leader coming off the best two-year stretch of his career. As Hobson sees it: "Its Palmer's elite potential versus Kitna's no-frills, no-surprises production."

"It's a tough decision for not only what Jon did, but the person he is," Lewis said. "This way, we're going to go forward. I feel like it's the best thing for us to do right now. ... I don't want to get into specifics because of a guy who played his tail off. I was as supportive of him as anyone in this building all through last year and that's not going to change."

In addition to Palmer's pedigree and last year's promising preseason, economics had to factor into this equation. Once the Bengals selected Palmer, they were chained together in the salary cap. His six-year, $40 million deal can max out at $49 million. Over last year and this one, he gets about $14 million in bonus and is scheduled to take home about $18 million in his first three years.

That's an expensive backup, but Lewis has insisted since he took the job 13 months ago that the best players and not the richest are going to play. He reiterated the point at last month's NFL scouting combine and Monday when he said he'll change quarterbacks if that is the reason the Bengals are losing games.

Lewis believes the change will force teammates to pick up the pace.

"It puts the pressure on the rest of our football team," the coach explained. "That's why right now is the time to do this. I want everybody to understand the responsibility that comes to them. Now we've got to shift some of the responsibility on them. Jon did a lot for us, and Carson's going to have to grow into that role."

Palmer won the Heisman at Southern California and was the first overall pick in the draft last year, getting $14 million in bonuses. He was expected to replace Kitna as soon as he learned the offense, but never got into a game.

Instead, Kitna had a career year, leading a perennial loser into playoff contention for the first time since 1990. The Bengals went 8-8 and stayed in contention until the final game of the season.

Kitna wound up as the only quarterback in the league to take every snap last season. Palmer was promoted to No. 2, but never came close to getting into a game.

And of course, it's difficult to assess how much Palmer grew from merely watching on the sideline last season.

"He made some strides there," Lewis said. "It remains to be seen how far along he came. We'll see. ..."

Lewis said that Kitna was disappointed when informed of the decision to make him a backup. Palmer also talked to Kitna, who was his roommate and mentor last season.

"He couldn't have handled it any better," Palmer told Kay. "He said look, I completely support you, my family completely supports you, don't feel bad about this at all. This was going to happen. He handled it just the way you'd expect Jon to handle it.

"I'm so lucky and fortunate to be in this situation. I don't know how bad it could be, just because Jon's handled it so great."

Now that the job is Palmer's, don't look for any backtracking from Lewis, who demonstrated the will to stick with his initial decision by standing behind Kitna last summer despite some impressive exhibition work by the newcomer.

I'll also note at this point there's no reason to believe Palmer isn't everything the Bengals hoped for when they landed him last April.

"It goes back to all the things we drafted him for," said offensive coordinator Bob Bratkowski. "He's got a great, quick release. He's got a strong arm. He's tall. He can get the ball down the field. He's got good touch.

"There's a lot of rookie quarterbacks that even in that situation don't perform well," said Bratkowski of Palmer's preseason work against backups. "It was a very positive sign. Look at what he's capable of doing."

Bratkowski said Palmer is going to fit into the mini-camp practice schedule just like Kitna would have, probably at about 80 percent of the snaps.

One last note on this one. ...

In an article published late Sunday, Sporting News columnist Dan Pompei advised teams in the market for a starting quarterback against discounting the possibility that Kitna will be available at some point in the offseason.

While Kitna wants to return to Cincinnati and has said in the past he'd be willing to renegotiate his current contract, but the question is whether he'll still want to return if he knows he'll have to take a major pay cut. Apparently the Bengals can't live with Kitna counting $4.3 million against the salary cap, as his contract calls for.

As Pompei summed up: "If being a starter is Kitna's priority, he'll probably refuse to renegotiate his contract and become a free agent. ..."