Well, the football world is just one day away from the offseason's most anticipated event - the NFL Draft.

Names will be called. Flashy suits will be flaunted. And big money contracts will follow.

And again this year, fans already know who will be the No. 1 overall pick.

Apparently, USC quarterback Carson Palmer will be the first pick in the draft on Saturday. Thursday, he agreed to a long-term contract with the woeful Cincinnati Bengals.

And unless the Detroit Lions want to make the entire state of Michigan angry, they'll take former Spartan star Charles Rogers.

This will be fine and dandy (if the Houston Texans don't put a slick one), but I have beef with the priority of positions in the draft.

Defense wins championships, or so the NFL coaches preach. And the past three seasons, we've seen defenses triumph over offenses on Super Bowl Sunday.

And the quarterbacks leading the winning teams are not considered among the elite at their position.

The last three Super Bowl champions have been led by a 1992 ninth-round draft pick (Tampa Bay's Brad Johnson), 2000 sixth-round draft pick (New England's Tom Brady) and 1994 first-round selection (Baltimore's Trent Dilfer, now with Seattle).

In the 1990s, high-paid star quarterbacks were essential for championship teams. Troy Aikman, Steve Young and John Elway were among the stellar quarterbacks that led their teams to Super Bowl triumphs.

But these days, it's not the quarterback that wins championships - it's the defense. The guy under center is just the guy that doesn't lose the game.

I think the Oakland Raiders would have been a lot better off against Tampa Bay if Rich Gannon had thrown the ball to his own teammates for touchdowns.

But anyway, the Bengals' decision to take Palmer is even more puzzling considering he only had one stellar season.

It's pretty much football fact that the Bengals have next to nothing. So putting a rookie quarterback around a ton of mediocre talent is not going to give him a chance to be successful.

It took Palmer almost his entire career to become a star quarterback. Before his senior season, he wasn't even close to being the top quarterback in the nation. And after one glamorous season, the Bengals - who don't have a great history with quarterbacks - want to give him the world. Remember David Klingler and Akili Smith.

I'm glad I'm not a Bengals fan.

Not to mention, the media frenzy around a quarterback is going to be ridiculous. A wide receiver or cornerback wouldn't face nearly as much scrutiny.

I'm not saying taking a QB in the top 10 of the first round should be outlawed. Indianapolis' Peyton Manning, Atlanta's Michael Vick and Philadelphia's Donovan McNabb are worth every penny they make. But I don't see any rings on their fingers.

It would make more sense, to me at least, if the Bengals took Rogers, Miami wide receiver Andre Johnson or Kansas State cornerback Terence Newman.

Newman is as fast as bullets, and he's a threat on kick-off and punt returns. He returned two punts for touchdowns and one kickoff for a score in his last season as a Wildcat.

And Rogers and Johnson both seem to be can't miss prospects.

Do you want the next Randy Moss (Rogers) or the next Terrell Owens (Johnson)?

I admit those are pretty weighty comparisons, but those are the comparisons that have been made.

And what's wrong with taking a cornerback as the first pick overall?

I'm not John Madden, but I thought a shutdown cornerback was pretty useful.

Only the future will tell if I'm right or the general managers and scouts that get paid handsomely to make the right choices.

I'm just the person who sits back and says, "Why did they do that?"

Romando J. Dixson, State News sports editor, wants to be an NFL general manager. He can be reached at dixsonro@msu.edu.