Caught in the Draft

Here are some random thoughts about this weekend's NFL Draft:

* Given that the draft was devoid of a surefire stud quarterback, I thought that the 49ers should have taken the best available player, Braylon Edwards. But in the minutes leading up to the pick on Saturday morning, I talked myself into being optimistic about the Alex Smith pick. It's like Torry Holt was saying: if you're going to rebuild, you might as well put your money behind a quarterback because he can be the face of the franchise. Plus he has the body, the brain and the track record to be a succesful pro. Given that draft picks are always a crapshoot, I guess I can be satisfied with the fact that Alex Smith has no red flags.

* My plea to players who get taken at the top of the draft: Get off the cell phone! It was cringe-inducing to see guys like Braylon Edwards and Cadillac Williams concentrating on their cell phone conversation as their names were being read. What possible need is there to stay on the line during the most important moment of your life? Wouldn't it be more rewarding to actually listen to Tagliabue call your name and then maybe hug your mother?

* There's a draft tradition of taking the "#1" jersey of your new team on your way up to the podium. However, while most jerseys are blank, I did notice that certain draftees had their names stitched on to the jersey. How many different jersey-name combinations went unused backstage. I would love to see a "B. Edwards" 49ers jersey turn up on eBay.

* The best players who went undrafted: Virginia Tech's Bryan Randall, Oklahoma's Jason White, West Virginia's Kay Jay Harris, and Purdue's Taylor Stubblefield.

* With Stanford's O.J. Atogwe's selection in the third round, I can finally say: I know an NFL player. (There's a chance he may not remember his former RA, but that's besides the point).

* I'm normally not a fan of athlete interviews (they're usually cliche-filled and uninsightful) but I was blown away by Cedric Benson's tearful post-draft interview. Benson candidly discussed the unfair comparisons to Ricky Williams that had haunted him in the pre-draft process. Benson said that he was "degraded," "talked down-to" and that the entire pre-draft process was "a slap in the face." Other than Michael Wilbon, nobody has discussed the racial-profiling that made teams question whether Benson would turn out to be just like Williams: another dreadlocked U-Texas head-case. I hope that a good number of NFL scouts heard what Benson had to say.

* Speaking of racial profiling, I couldn't belive that Mel Kiper Jr. actually said, "you see a lot of Doug Williams in Jason Campbell." Huh? It's OK Mel, all black quarterbacks don't need to be compared to other black quarterbacks. And if you insist on doing it, couldn't you have picked a player who has been active in the past 15 years?

* SI.com's excellent scribe Stewart Mandel asked a provacative question before the draft: which colleges are actually the best NFL-factories? There's no argument that Miami is in a class by itself when it comes to producing pros. That's why I wasn't worried when the 49ers selected the oft-injured Frank Gore yesterday. You have to feel confident when the last three running backs produced by The U were Edgerrin James, Clinton Portis and Willis McGahee.

* You have to think that the nickname helped "Pac Man" Jones raise his draft stock. How else could he be drafted ahead of Antrel Rolle?