Pittsburgh Post-Gazette from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania • Page 37

Apr 17 2005 PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE SUNDAY, APRIL 17, 2005 C-9 PRO FOOTBALL THE DRAFT Draft data What: 2005 NFL draft. When: Saturday-Sunday, with the first round scheduled to begin at noon Saturday. Where: Jacob Javits Convention Center, New York. TV: ESPN. First pick: The San Francisco 49ers, who will likely select from among QB Alex Smith (Utah), QB Aaron Rodgers (California) or WR Braylon Edwards (Michigan).

Steelers: Select 30th in the first round. Fun with numbers Teams like running backs with big hands. But Carnell Williams, Kansas Darren Sproles and Walter Reyes exactly fill the bill. Their hands are 8 1 4 inches the smallest of any backs at the NFL Scouting Combine in February. Up in smoke? It was learned this week that four players projected to be taken in the middle to low rounds tested positive for marijuana.

The four include two from Wisconsin: DT Anttaj Hawthorne and Jonathan Clinkscale; DT Eric Coleman of Clemson and Atcheson Conway of Bowie, according to a source within the league who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. The tests were administered at the NFL scouting combine. Who should they take? A sampling of what some writers and columnists are saying about what the 49ers should do with the No. 1 pick: Rice is all the reminder San Francisco needs of the impact that can be made by an extraordinary receiver. I would grab Edwards.

The 49ers see what I see. He has a defensive, aggressive mentality at receiver, a take-charge attitude. He reminds the 49ers of Michael Irvin in that way. Thomas George, The Denver Post Pass on Alex Smith. And pass on Aaron Rodgers.

In fact, we would recommend coach Nolan pass on dealing with the No. 1 pick entirely if such a strategy were feasible. Reason being: There is no draft talent in the pool this year. Why burden yourself with No. 1-pick salary demands and No.

1-pick expectations if you come away with No. 1- pick upside for your trouble? Gary Peterson, Contra Costa Times Name that player In a case of mistaken identity, the New York Times and ESPN.com reported this week that more than half the teams received false information about Chris Shelton, a running back who is expected to be a high draft pick. InfoMart, a company in Marietta, used by some NFL teams to conduct background checks on potential draft picks, confused Eric Shelton, a 6-foot- 3, 248-pound junior from Louisville, whose agent describes him as with a different Eric Shelton, who possesses a criminal record. The erroneous background check incorrectly informed 18 teams that Shelton was arrested and convicted in 1999 for aggravated assault, and that he was charged with marijuana possession in 2001. is the last client of mine who would be involved in anything like his agent, Peter Schaffer, said.

smoke, never drank, never swore, escorted my wife and daughter to church. When teams started calling, I knew something was informally known as the second day die-hards, or fans who sat through both days of the draft last year. Remaining tickets are free andawarded on a first-come, first- served basis. Like everything else about the NFL, interest in the draft has grown by leaps and bounds, driven by TV, the Internet, shrewd marketing and the insatiable appetite of football fans. The basic concept changed since 1936, when representatives of the nine NFL franchises assembled Feb.

8 in Philadelphia at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, which was owned by relatives of NFL commissioner Bert Bell. Bell championed the idea of teams replenishing their rosters by having them select college players in the reverse order of howthe teams finished in the standings. A total of 81 players were picked in the nine rounds on that Saturday. There wasnary a face-painted fan in sight, and there was no radio or TV, given that there were no commercial stations on the air at the time. There was, however, a modest assemblage of print journalists sitting at their table.

The Steelers, still named the Pirates in those days, selected Notre Dame running back Bill Shakespeare with their top pick. He never played for the team, but then, as now, the draft was an inexact science. The Philadelphia Eagles chose first, tabbing Heisman Trophy winner Jay Berwanger.He decided not to play pro ball a common practice at the time in that the NFL was regarded as the realm of rogues and rapscallions and not a single Eagles pick from that draftplayed in a regular-season game. In 1938, the Steelers created the first draft buzz. They signed their top pick, Colorado All-American Byron White, for $15,800 the largest contract in pro football at the timeand twice the amount paid to the highest-paid player, Sammy Baugh.

Nobody registered time in the 40-yard dash, but he led the NFL in rushing in 1939. After leaving to become a Rhodes scholar, he played another year of pro footballwith the Detroit Lions and eventually became a justice on the U.S. Supreme Court. He rushed for 1,081 yard in two seasons and issued 1,275 opinions in 31 years on the high court. No real scouting was done in the early days.

Dan Rooney remembers that the Steelers would send letters to college coaches, asking them to name their best athletes and the best opponents they played against. Coach Jock Sutherland even had his version of Mel Kiper. He was Ray Burns, a funeral director and a friend of who kept lists of local college talent. guy did a credible Rooney said. The Rams, in Los Angeles at the time, revolutionized things in the 1950s by assembling detailed scouting reports on players and bringing suitcases filled with files to the process.

That was the start of the multi million dollar scouting business in which the names of top players were guarded like atomic secrets. The draft has included as many as 30 rounds and as little as seven, the current number. When Buddy Parker was the coach, the Steelers do much drafting. In 1959 and1963, they traded away their first seven picks because Parker had so little faith in rookies. But under Chuck Noll, the Steelers defined the importance of building through the draft.

He built a dynasty with a series of quality drafts, including the selection of four Hall of Famers in the first five rounds of the 1974 draft Lynn Swann, Jack Lambert, John Stallworth and Mike Webster. For three decades, a one-day draft was held during the season, in November or December, at a hotel in Philadelphia, Chicago or New York. In 1967, following the merger with the AFL, it was moved to March. Eleven years later, selections moved to April. All of that was B.C.

Before Cable. Seismic changes occurred when an all-sports network appeared on the scene in 1979. ESPN sought permission to televise the draft, but was turned down unanimously by the 28 owners. The late Pete Rozelle, the commissioner who moved the NFL into the media age, thought the idea had merit they can cover it like a news Rozelle told his staff. The cable did stand-up coverage of the first two rounds in 1980.

Interest then exploded when coverage included the entire draft, from the top pick to Mr. Irrelevant. very hard to think of the days before said Jim The only thing missing is the big top EVOLUTION, FROM PAGE C-1 Steeg, the chief operating officer of the San Diego Chargers and a former assistant to Rozelle. To help fill the dead time between picks, ESPN brought Mel Kiper Jr. on board in 1984.

Although he never put a helmet on that licorice-black coif of his, Kiper began circulating a homemade draft prospectus in 1979 when he was a student at Essex Community College in Baltimore. He even had his phone number on the front of his NFL draft report. In addition to his draft-day celebrity, Kiper now does a weekend radio show, writes a column and lives and breathes the draft for 52 weeks of the year. The draft, which was held on a Tuesday and Wednesday, was moved to a Sunday and Monday in 1988, mainly because the Marriott Marquis offered the NFL a better weekend rate. Six years later, it was given the weekend slot it has today, giving it the drawing power of a college football Saturday and an NFL Sunday.

About 30 million people will watch at least part of the 17 hours of coverage on ESPN and ESPN2, with the network filling time with video clips, interviews, analysis and history. A ticker at the bottom of the screen will give updates. Viewers are apt to hear inane blather about how collegians run well in space, possess quick feet, turn heads with their vertical leap and have tremendous upsides and judging from the size of them, they have tremendous backsides, too. Whiz-bang gadgetryconnects all 32 teams to draft headquarters. Pick-by-pick reaction and interviews with coaches, players and team officials are fed to ESPN through Glowpoint IP-based video communications service provider and Sony Electronics video conferencing system.

The NFL, which has its own TV network in 26 million homes, also has monitored a huge increase in Internet interest. When draft information was first posted on the NFLWeb site in 1994, 50,000 hits were registered. Last year, there were 4.8 million hits. fans, the draft symbolizes the great Steeg said. like a rebirth every Robert Dvorchak can be reached at or 412-263-1959.

Draft Day Growth of a cultural phenomenon The NFL draft did not begin with ESPN. It only seems that way. A look at how the draft has evolved from the tool of a struggling league looking to replenish itself into something bordering on a national sports holiday: 1936: The first draftis held Feb. 8 at the Ritz- Carlton Hotel in Philadelphia. The first player selected by the Philadelphia Eagles is Heisman Trophy winner Jay Berwanger of the University of Chicago.

He never plays a down in the NFL. Eighty-one players are selected. Does anyone notice? 1938: Only the teams with the five worst records in the preceding season are permitted to pick in the second and fourth rounds. This practice continues through the 1944 draft. 1947: A lottery is instituted with the winner earning the right to pick No.

1 overall. All teams, regardless of record, are eligible. The defending champion Bears win the lottery and select back Bob Fenimore. This practice continues through the 1958 draft. 1950: The draft jumps to 30 rounds for the first time.

In a wise corresponding move, the league opts to conduct the draft over two days for the first time. 1952: Despite the fact there are still 30 rounds, the league reverts to a one- day draft and remains that way for all but one of the next seven. 1957: Leftover Thanksgiving turkey to while away the time between picks? The draft is held Nov. 27, 1956. The 1966 draft will tie it for earliest on record (Nov.

27, 1965). 1959: In a move that would turn sports talk radio hosts apoplectic if it happens in 1999 instead of 1959 and one that offers some insight into how the draft is viewed in some circles the Steelers trade their first seven draft picks. They wait not only seven rounds to make their first pick, but 50 days. Rounds 1-4 are held Dec. 2, 1958; Rounds 5-30 on Jan.

21, 1959. This will be the last of the 30-round drafts. 1960: The Mystery Draft. To this day, the Pro Football Hall of Fame does not list a time or place for this draft. Because of the upstart American Football League, the NFL conducts its draft in secret.

LSU back Billy Cannon is the No. 1 pick, but opts to sign with the Houston Oilers, thus firing one of the first shots in a bidding war that would lead to the AFL- NFL merger later in the decade. 1967: The first joint AFL-NFL draft is held March 14. The expansion New Orleans Saints trade the No. 1 overall pick to the Baltimore Colts for QB Gary Cuozzo, OL Butch Allison and a 17th-round draft choice.

The Colts select DE Bubba Smith from Michigan State; the Saints begin a downward spiral that will see them go two decades before posting their first winning record. 1976: The draft, which had been settled in late January since the late 1960s, moves forward to April (8-9) for the first time. 1980: An infant sports network by the acronym ESPN covers its first draft from the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York. The draft is held on a Tuesday-Wednesday. The first announced pick of the ESPN Era is RB Billy Sims by the Detroit Lions.

1982: Going back, back, back to we find Chris Berman making his first draft appearance. By 1984, Berman would fit comfortably in the chair he still sits in today. 1984: Mel Kiper Jr. and his hair are introduced into draftnik living rooms, joining ESPN for the first of 22 consecutive drafts. 1988: The draft moves to Sunday-Monday.

1994: Growing smaller since the early 1960s, the draft is reduced to its present seven rounds from the eight of 1993 and the 12 it had been since 1977. But it still takes two days to conduct, which makes one shake their head at the fact that teams once did 30 rounds in a day. And ESPN is there for every minute, showing it in its entirety for the first time with some coverage shifted to infant ESPN2. 1995: The draft moves to its present Saturday- Sunday format, and its fan base grows. 2004: ESPN reaches a record 31 million viewers during its 17 hours of coverage April 24-25.

2005: The draft in its 70th year outgrows its Madison Square Garden Theatre setting and moves to the Jacob Javits Convention Center. And the 49ers are on the clock The rounds How the draft has expanded and contracted since the owners first met in that Philadelphia hotel in 1936 (years-rounds): 1936 9 1937 10 1938 12 1939-42 20 1943-48 30 1949 25 1950-59 30 1960-66 20 1967-76 17 1977-92 12 1993 8 19947 Note: The AFL held a separate draft from 1960-66, going as high as 34 rounds in 1962. As a product of the AFL-NFL merger, one draft was held beginning in 1967. Associated Press NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle announces John Elway as the first pick in the 1983 draft one of the first drafts televised by ESPN. ESPN photo Chris Berman, right, helped make ESPN and the draft synonymous.

ESPN has added former players such as Tom Jackson into the mix, but the cornerstone is Berman, who will do his 24th draft next weekend. Mark Press LEFT: Fans have come to treat draft day as they would a game day. These Raiders fans turn out for Draft Day 2000 at the Madison Square Garden Jay Berwanger: overall No. 1 For more draft coverage throughout the week, visit www.post-gazette.com Denis Press Utah QB Alex Smith Is he worth the No..