WR Chris Henry

On Monday, QB Carson Palmer said WR Matt Jones, the former first-round draft pick who hasn’t caught an NFL pass since ’08, and free-agent pickup WR Antonio Bryant can give him what he’s been missing since the departure of WR T.J. Houshmandzadeh and the injury to the late WR Chris Henry.

Palmer didn’t throw a deep ball to Jones on because the Bengals were installing their short routes. But twice Jones ran by a top-tier CB in Leon Hall during drills and caught one of them.

“He looked good today,” Palmer said of Jones. “He’s so long. Big. So lanky. I threw him a ball when he was completely covered. He just caught it out in front of him and didn’t let the DB come close to making a play on it. That’s what you have to do when you’re that big and you’re that type of player. You need to use that to your advantage and it looks like he’s going to be able to do that. I can’t wait to get him out there for the long routes when we put more of the offense in and we can open him up.”

It's still early, but if one or both of these guys can step up along side of WR Chad Ochocinco, Palmer will have some nice fantasy value this year.