Draft targeted big playmakers

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The NFL draft was all about skill.

In a league that is emphasizing offense, NFL teams went on an offensive spree during the first round of the draft on Saturday.

As most expected, the San Francisco 49ers selected Utah quarterback Alex Smith with the first overall pick, triggering a flurry of skill-position players of seven backs/receivers going in the first 10 picks.

The first five picks were offensive players for the first time since 1999, when the quarterback-dominated draft featured six offensive players at the top.

Auburn running backs Ronnie Brown and Carnell “Cadillac” Williams made NFL history as players from the same backfield going in the top five, with Brown taken by Miami with the second pick and Williams selected by Tampa Bay with the fifth. They sandwiched the choices of Michigan wide receiver Braylon Edwards, who went third to Cleveland, and Texas running back Cedric Benson, who went to Chicago.

Seven of the first 10 players were offensive playmakers, and the three defensive players in the top 10 were cornerbacks drafted to cover them. In all, 18 offensive players, including six wide receivers, were among the 32 first-round picks.

Though trade rumors circulated for weeks, there were no deals during the first two hours of the draft. The 49ers did not get the interest in the No. 1 pick that they hoped and took Smith, who doesn’t turn 21 until next month.

“We felt that Alex was the one that most fit what we want our team to look like,” San Francisco coach Mike Nolan said. “He brings discipline, competitiveness and intelligence to the table. He is off the charts in all three areas.”

Smith, who threw 47 touchdown passes and just eight interceptions in his career at Utah, is the sixth consecutive quarterback taken with the first overall pick.

“It’s something that’s going to be associated with my name for the rest of my life, and that motivates me,” Smith said. “I’m going to work hard to make sure I’m worthy of this selection.”

Smith, who led Utah to a 12-0 record last season, understands the legacy established by Hall of Famers Joe Montana and Steve Young, who won five Super Bowls during San Francisco’s halcyon days.

“People talk about the legacy and the pressure associated with it, but I’m honored to follow in their footsteps,” Smith said . “I feel like I follow right in line with those guys. You’re talking about smart quarterbacks who make good decisions. They’re winners, and they get it done. I feel like I fit that mold.”

Another quarterback familiar with the 49ers mystique was California’s Aaron Rodgers, who grew up in the Bay Area idolizing Montana and even keeps a picture of Montana in his shoulder pads.

The 49ers, who were 2-14 last year, had considered Rodgers, but once they chose Smith, there were no takers for Rodgers. He plunged to the 24th pick, where he was taken by Green Bay as the possible heir to three-time MVP Brett Favre, who could retire after the 2005 season.

“I had already prepared myself for things not going my way,” said Rodgers, who had been invited to the draft on the assumption he would be taken much earlier. “Things get a little screwy on draft day. We all know that.”

Still, Rodgers believed he landed on his feet.

“I couldn’t be more excited about coming in and learning from (Favre),” Rodgers said. “It wasn’t the easiest day. But I’m excited about going to a team that wants me and a team I can learn from the greatest quarterback of our day.”

One reason some thought Rodgers had an edge over Smith was because he ran a pro-style offense, while Smith operated a spread offense, mostly from the shotgun. But Nolan shot down talk of Smith playing in a gimmick system.

“Let’s go with gimmick quarterbacks,” Nolan said. “Chad Pennington came from a gimmick offense, if you want to call it that. Byron Leftwich, Daunte Culpepper, Steve MCNair, if shotgun is gimmick … so I don’t think you’d say those guys are gimmick quarterbacks.

“It’s just teams using their guys the best they can. … We might be in a shotgun for the entire game if that’s what gets us a win. I think that the shotgun was Utah’s decision to do what was best for their football team, to structure their offense in that way; not that he can’t come underneath the center.”

Another surprise in the first round was Minnesota passing up wide receiver Mike Williams with the seventh overall pick in favor of South Carolina’s Troy Williamson. Williams was forced to sit out last season after the original decision in Maurice Clarett’s case against the NFL was overturned, and the league was allowed to keep players from entering the draft until they were three years removed from high school.

Williams, however, was taken by Detroit with the 10th pick, and he wanted to put the disappointment of missing all of 2004 behind him.

“It was rough, difficult at times,” he said about watching last year’s draft. “Now that I’ve been drafted, I’m not even thinking about last year.”