The Tribune du lieu suivant : San Luis Obispo, California • 80

First Round As expected Jake Long Chris Long and Matt Ryan go eariy looking forward to going up against Jake Long twice a he said of what will be a revival of their Big Ten rivalry At die seventh overall spot die bartering began Eight of the next 15 picks were involved in trades New Orleans moved up to No 7 to get defensive tackle Sedrick Ellis of USC who was recruited to die school by the new defensive line coach Ed Orgeron 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 breaker in Arkansas running back Darren 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-American defensive tackle Glenn Dorsey of national champion LSU 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 frankly could never fit into it The Jets wound up with Gholston of Ohio State who must now learn to play in the 3-4 alignment the team prefers Music Hall stage qufekly great to see the green room said Virginia defensive end Chris Long who went second to St Louis a blessing to be here they only ask six guys to Gholston added how it worked out teams made good After St Louis took the son of Pro Football Hall of Famer Howie Long Matt Ryan of Boston College who could solve the quarterback problems in Atlanta went to die Falcons Following a long-standing tradition Oakland went for die game- Anoriatcd Pro NEW YORK Forget the intrigue at the top of the draft The NFL invited a half-dozen players to the draft Saturday and they went in the first six pickk Then tilings went a bit crazy From Michigan tackle Jake Ijong who already had signed with the Miami Dolphins to defensive endlinebacker Vernon Gholston going sixth to the New York Jets there was an air of predictability to the proceedings Unlike last year when Notre Dame's Brady Quinn had to wait hours to be chosen the players on-hand hit the Radio City ASSOCIATED PRESS Boston CoUsort Matt Ryan was tho first quarterback taken third ovtrall by Atlanta "i Chargers 't 49ers Balmer trickles down to San Francisco Defensive lineman out of North Carolina is taken 29th overall 4 ASSOCIATED PRESS Antoine Cason was an All-American and Jim Thorpe Award winner for the Arizona Wildcats Chargers take Arizona CB Cason with 27th pick San Diego gets defensive in the first round doesn't have another pick until the fifth round By Matthew Barrows McClatchy Newspaper! SANTA The first round of draft at times seemed like a free for all for offensive linemen a position of need for the 49ers Eight of them were plucked off the board in the opening round including six that went in quick succession between picks 12 and 21 But as blockers were being snapped up 49ers general manager Scot McCloughan saw another phenomenon taking place With every guard or tickle that was taken one of the favorite prospects defensive lineman Kentwan Balmer trickled toward San Francisco at pick No 29 The 49ers went into the draft ready and willing to trade down in the draft order to accumulate more picks As Balmer a big defensive tackle from North Carolina fell tan-talizingly closer to them however the 49ers strongly considered trading up "There was a lot of talk about it" coach Mike Nolan said had thought it was necessary to do that we might have done that" In the end McCloughan and the 49ers kept their cool and Balmer dropped into their laps Nolan intimated that the 49ers also were considering Clemson defensive end Phillip Merling and Oklahoma linebacker Curtis Lofton with their pick In Balmer the 49ers believe they found a big (6-foot-5 292 pounds) lineman with the tenacity to cause havoc on tiie interior line Nolan said Balmer would be tested at both nose tackle and left defensive end The current starter at nose tackle is Aubrayo Franklin while Isaac Sopoaga is penciled in as Bryant replacement at left defensive end "One of the things that was interesting and also encouraging about (Balmer) was that a guy that plays almost every Nolan said difficult to have the stamina to ASSOCIATED PRESS'! San Francisco's first-round pick Kcntwan Balmer Is listed at Moot-5 292 pounds play every snap in a football game as a defensive The 49ers like Balmer be-' cause they think he will be able to tie up blockers and prptect linebacker Patrick Willis a player Nolan said was tiie best defensive player in the league" The 49ers believe they will be more effective on blitzes with players like Balmer tying up multiple blockers not going to give out any defensive coop dinator Greg Manusky said on KNBR if a hard po sition to fill in tiie NFL with a guy that has size speed and ability Thaf the toughest position to Balmer was just as ecstatic over the pick He had invited approximately 80 friends and family members to North football facility to watch the draft including his father Charles a diehard 49ers fan just proud of me and the situation said Balmer on a conference call think he's crying now He has his 49ers bat on actually What a coincidence" The knock on Balmer is that he didn't tap into his po- tential until his senior season when he was moved from de- fensive end to right defensive tackle But both Nolan and college coach Butch Davis- said it because of lack of effort got the ability to really dominate tiie line of Davis said think very highly of him here Besides being a great football player got great charac ter and leadership skills" He had 71 tackles 14 pass breakups and two forced fumbles He also returned 27 punts for 271 yards and two touchdowns for the Wildcats who finished 5-7 but won three of their final four games His father Wendell Cason played three years for the Atlanta Falcons after a standout college career at Oregon The list of Pac-10 receivers Cason defended includes Dwayne Jarrett and Steve Smith of USC DeSean Jackson of Cal Demetrius Williams of Oregon and Jason Hill of Washington State "We got a guy who we think is going to be a terrific football player" general manager AJ Smith said Cason saw the Chargers rout the Detroit Lions last season at Qualcomm Stadium His cousin Aveion Cason plays for tiie Lions The Chargers also want to draft a tackle but their next pick isn't until the fifth round They have a pick in the second third or fourth rounds because of deals they've made in the last year Chargers claim QB Bramlat off waivers SAN DIEGO The San Diego Chargers claimed quarterback Casey Bramlet off waivers from the Miami Dolphins on Friday Bramlet is the fourth quarterback on the roster joining Philip Rivers Billy Vofek and Charlie Whitehurst San Diego is Bramlefs fifth NFL team After being waived by Washington at the end of training camp last summer Bramlet was signed to practice squad and then spent two weeks as the third quarterback He was waived Sept 19 and joined the practice squad He was elevated to the active rosier and served as third quarterback for the final two weeks of the season By Bernie Wilson Anociated Pres SAN DIEGO Arizona cor-nerback Antoine Cason had no idea the San Diego Chargers were interested in taking him in the NFL Draft He visited five teams this spring The Chargers on the list even though he lives up the freeway in Long Beach So naturally San Diego used the 27th pick overall to take Cason an All-American and the Jim Thorpe Award winner as the best defensive back The teams that don't talk to you usually pick you and this was one of those cases that it Cason said during a conference call Saturday Tm just real fortunate to juk have an opportunity to play" The Chargers envision Cason competing for the job as nickel back replacing Drayton Florence who left as a free agent Cason said he spoke with Chargers coach Norv Turner on Saturday feel good about it" Cason said "Ids an exciting time for me" The Chargers like size and speed He's 6 feet 190 and was a four-year starter with the Wildcats matched up in a passing conference against some of the best receivers through the years" Turner said had outstanding games against 'SC against some of the bigger receivers so he can play a very physical Turner said the Chargers had a "good session" with Cason at the scouting combine in Indianapolis Cason had 15 interceptions at Arizona including five as a senior He pondered jumping to the NFL after his junior season but took coach Mike advice and played his senior season tast year he returned two interceptions for touchdowns I Notebook happen yet the chance he might and that he might play really wen was good enough for the team owner to absorb tiie public-relations hit that comes with acquiring a guy known more for arrests than interceptions "To say Tm totally convinced no I know Jerry Jones said know that at aft But I do know enough to do what we're doing And I feel positive enough that if worth that" The deal was agreed to in principle Wednesday Then came all a convoluted series of talks between both teams Pao-man tiie league and the union a back-and-forth forth-and-back series that -team vice president Stephen Jones called the most complicated in his nearly 20 years in the league a suspended player is Jerry Jones said For the Titans the Pacman sqga has lasted much longer And now it's all over cant diange the Tennessee coach Jeff Fisher Baid we can do is move forward and today as an organization we moved New York 0 In one of tht greatest runs on trench players In tho history of tho draft eight offensive and sovon do- ftnalvt llncmtn wore taken in tho first round nearly half of tho 31 4 players selected It was a swift-moving draft that came off without a hitch as teams now limit- ed to just 10 minutes between picks in the opening round finished in just more than 3 hours and 30 minutes an average of about seven minutes per -pick There were a lot more trades (eight in the first round) than surprises as none of the most highly rated players slipped out of tiie top 10 In fact all six players invited by the NFL to be pres-ent in New York where the draft was conducted were chosen with the first six picks Tribune win services Irving Texas Tht complicated deal to got Adam Jonos to tho Dallas Cowboys was finished Saturday night Now It's up to tho suspended coraorback to make tho most of thq last chance hrt getting from Cowboys ownor Jerry Jonas Dallas gave the Tennessee Titans a fourth-round pick in this draft and a sixth-rounder next year The Cowboys would get back a fourth-rounder in 2009 if Pacman isn't reinstated or a fifth-rounder if he returns then gets punished again Pacman also is getting a new contract The teams submitted all the paperwork to (lie league office late Saturday with formal approval expected today The Cowboys are braced for the players association to quibble over the contract but Jerry Jones emphatically said that block the trade 1 The bigger issue is whether Pacman will ever make it onto the field for the Cowboys Even Jerry Jones isn't sure I.