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Week In Pictures
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Yawn.
Then came the wake-up call: trade after trade after trade, affecting 14 of the 31 first-round picks.
At one point, five of seven selections had been bartered. A little while later, it was another five of six.
Jake Long just sat back and smiled -- right from the outset.
The Michigan tackle already had signed with the Miami Dolphins as the top overall choice. He inked a five-year contract worth $57.75 million, $30 million of it guaranteed.
"I was a little more relaxed just knowing where I was going and just being here to make it official," Long said. "That solidified it all. It was just breathtaking to walk out there and shake the commissioner's hand and hold up that jersey. It was a dream come true."
Chris Long of Virginia, Matt Ryan of Boston College, Darren McFadden of Arkansas, Glenn Dorsey of national champion LSU and Vernon Gholston of Ohio State didn't have to wait long to walk under the floodlights, either. It was the first time since the NFL began inviting multiple prospects in 1993 that they all went at the very beginning of the proceedings.
So unlike last year, when Notre Dame's Brady Quinn had to wait hours to be chosen.
"It's a blessing to be here, they only ask six guys to come," DE/LB Gholston added. "Funny how it worked out, teams made good selections."
Louisville quarterback Brian Brohm, once thought to be a first-round selection, had to wait until the Green Bay Packers took him with the 56th overall pick.
"It was a long wait, but I'm just excited to be in the NFL," Brohm said.
He'll enter as the backup to Aaron Rodgers. But he could quickly become a fan favorite if Rodgers struggles to fill in for Brett Favre.
"The thing that impressed me about Brian is the consistency," said Packers Coach Mike McCarthy. "You always look for what a player offers you, how he fits into your system, or do you need to adjust your system to fit the quarterback or any other player, and I think he gives us a quarterback that has played a lot of football in college. He's very polished."
After St. Louis took the son of Pro Football Hall of Famer Howie Long, Ryan, who could solve the quarterback problems in Atlanta, went to the Falcons.
Following a long-standing tradition, Oakland went for the gamebreaker in running back McFadden, prompting the fans to boo loudly. Many wanted the two-time Heisman Trophy runner-up to fall to the New York Jets at No. 6.
All-America defensive tackle Dorsey was taken fifth overall by the Chiefs. Dorsey patted his heart as he held up a No. 1 Chiefs red jersey that was so small he could never fit into it.
"There was a lot of emotion," he said. "I told myself I was not going to cry, but you get the tears start coming and you can't control that."
The Jets wound up with Gholston of Ohio State.
At the seventh overall spot, the bartering began, and never really stopped. Eight of the next 15 picks were involved in trades.
New Orleans moved up to No. 7 to get defensive tackle Sedrick Ellis of Southern California. New Orleans gave up the No. 10 overall spot to New England, and its third-round slot, and got a fifth-rounder along with the chance to take Ellis.
Then Jacksonville moved up from 26th overall to eighth, where it grabbed Florida DE Derrick Harvey. The Jaguars gave the Ravens four picks to get to that spot.
Everything moved at a good pace after the NFL cut the first round from 15 minutes per pick to 10. The first round took 3 hours, 30 minutes, a significant improvement over the five-hour marathons of previous years.
Carolina, looking for a complement to DeAngelo Williams, selected Oregon running back Jonathan Stewart, then dealt with Philadelphia to get Pitt tackle Jeff Otah in the 19th position. The Panthers gave up next year's first-rounder in that trade.
Baltimore traded up to get quarterback Joe Flacco of Delaware with a pick Houston had owned.
Dallas, which came into Saturday with two first-round picks, used No. 22 for McFadden's backfield mate at Arkansas, Felix Jones, who also can return kicks. That began a run on runners, with Illinois' Rashard Mendenhall going to Pittsburgh and speedy Chris Johnson of East Carolina taken by Tennessee at 24.
In all, 14 of the 31 first-round selections were involved in trades. The Jets finished off the swapping by moving into Green Bay's No. 30 slot for Purdue tight end Dustin Keller, bringing a chorus of boos.
The Super Bowl champion Giants took Kenny Phillips of Miami with the final pick of the opening round. Phillips was the only safety selected in the round. Several renowned college players went in the second round, which began with Miami taking Clemson DE Phillip Merling.
On consecutive picks toward the end of Round 2, Baltimore grabbed Rutgers star running back Ray Rice, Green Bay took Brohm, and Miami got Michigan quarterback Chad Henne.
Second-round selections
32. Miami, Phillip Merling, DE, Clemson
33. St. Louis, Donnie Avery, WR, Houston
34. Washington (from Oakland through Atlanta), Devin Thomas, WR, Michigan State
35. Kansas City, Brandon Flowers, DB, Virginia Tech
36. Green Bay (from New York Jets), Jordy Nelson, WR, Kansas State
37. Atlanta, Curtis Lofton, LB, Oklahoma
38. Seattle (from Baltimore), John Carlson, TE, Notre Dame
39. San Francisco, Chilo Rachal, G, Southern Cal
40. New Orleans, Tracy Porter, DB, Indiana
41. Buffalo, James Hardy, WR, Indiana
42. Denver, Eddie Royal, WR, Virginia Tech
43. Minnesota (from Carolina through Philadelphia), Tyrell Johnson, DB, Arkansas State
44. Chicago, Matt Forte, RB, Tulane
45. Detroit, Jordan Dizon, LB, Colorado
46. Cincinnati, Jerome Simpson, WR, Coastal Carolina
47. Philadelphia (from Minnesota), Trevor Laws, DT, Notre Dame
48. Washington (from Houston through Atlanta), Fred Davis, TE, Southern California
49. Philadelphia, DeSean Jackson, WR, California
50. Arizona, Calais Campbell, DE, Miami
51. Washington, Malcolm Kelly, WR, Oklahoma
52. Jacksonville (from Tampa Bay), Quentin Groves, DE, Auburn
53. Pittsburgh, Limas Sweed, WR, Texas
54. Tennessee, Jason Jones, DT, Eastern Michigan
55. Baltimore (from Seattle), Ray Rice, RB, Rutgers
56. Green Bay (from Cleveland), Brian Brohm, QB, Louisville
57. Miami (from San Diego), Chad Henne, QB, Michigan
58. Tampa Bay (from Jacksonville), Dexter Jackson, WR, Appalachian State
59. Indianapolis, Mike Pollak, G, Arizona State
60. Green Bay, Patrick Lee, DB, Auburn
61. Dallas, Martellus Bennett, TE, Texas A&M
62. New England, Terrence Wheatley, DB, Colorado
63. New York Giants, Terrell Thomas, DB, Southern Cal
