DaytonDailyNews.com

CINCINNATI — Laveranues Coles was Plan B all along, but he got A-list treatment from Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer.

Coles wore an orange Bengals cap with his dark suit to his introduction Thursday, March 5, as the team's major offseason acquisition. The Bengals said that Coles was the receiver they had targeted if they couldn't get receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh to stay.

They signed Coles quickly and didn't waste time turning him into an example of how they really were willing to spend money to improve.

"Enough's been said about, 'Well, they don't do this and they don't do that,' " coach Marvin Lewis said. "Well, that's not really true. ... So we need to kind of get rid of this bad perception."

Coles agreed to a four-year deal that reportedly is worth up to $28 million. He represents something new for a team that slipped back into its bad, old form last season, finishing 4-11-1 with an offense that ranked last in the league.

Losing Houshmandzadeh, the Bengals' top receiver last year, was a major setback. They declined to use their franchise tag on him and instead let him become a free agent. Houshmandzadeh got the impression the Bengals weren't sincere in their offer, and fans were upset when he signed with Seattle.

Coles was aware that he would be the team's first choice if the job opened up. The Jets, Broncos, Titans and Bills also showed an interest, but Cincinnati was the front-runner because Coles was intrigued by the prospect of playing with quarterback Carson Palmer.

Palmer became a lobbyist, calling Coles to encourage him to come to Cincinnati.

"I think he had a great deal to do with it," Coles said. "Any time a quarterback of his caliber takes his time out to give you a call and lets you know how important he feels it would be to come to a team he plays for, I felt that was something great. I felt it was something I needed to take a close look at."

Palmer also had talked to Houshmandzadeh, who was his most dependable receiver. His phone call to Coles got a better result.

"It's very rare that you get a quarterback give you a call and tell you how confident he is in his ability and how accurate he is and how he thinks he can make you better," Coles said. "Any time you've got a guy with that type of confidence, you've got to be open to being someone around him."

Coles wasn't the only one taking calls from Palmer, who was lobbying the front office to get him signed.

"Carson's been beating me up since this thing got started Friday morning about Laveranues," Lewis said. "We got it done, and he helped out in the deal, because he is concerned that he has the right weapons and guys that we can count on all the time."