NEW YORK (April 29, 2006) -- The first round of the 2006 NFL Draft will get most of the attention, but the teams in Super Bowl XL prove the value of all seven rounds over the two days of drafting.
Of the 44 starters for the Pittsburgh Steelers and Seattle Seahawks on offense and defense in SB XL, more than half (25) were third-round selections or below, or college free agents. The MVP of the game, Steelers WR Hines Ward, was a third-round choice (No. 92 overall in 1998).
"Not that you can't acquire players in free agency and do other things," winning Steelers head coach Bill Cowher said, "but the foundation of your club is the draft."
MARIO WILLIAMS NOTES
The selection of North Carolina State defensive end Mario Williams with the No. 1 overall choice by the Houston Texans breaks a streak of five consecutive quarterbacks taken with the top selection in the draft, and a string of seven QBs taken No. 1 in the past eight drafts. The lone exception in that span was a defensive end -- Courtney Brown by Cleveland in 2000.
It was the first time North Carolina State has had a player selected No. 1 overall in an NFL Draft. In 1962, N.C. State quarterback Roman Gabriel was taken No. 1 in the AFL Draft by Oakland. He was picked second overall by the Los Angeles Rams in the NFL draft that year.
Williams becomes the seventh defensive end in history to be selected No. 1 in the draft. Three DEs in a row were taken No. 1 from 1972-74, and four in five years from 1972-76. The all-time NFL DE breakdown:
| YEAR | DEFENSIVE END | COLLEGE | NFL CLUB |
| 1972 | Walt Patulski | Notre Dame | Buffalo |
| 1973 | John Matuszak | Tampa | Houston |
| 1974 | Ed "Too Tall" Jones | Tennessee State | Dallas |
| 1976 | Lee Roy Selmon | Oklahoma | Tampa Bay |
| 1985 | Bruce Smith | Virginia Tech | Buffalo |
| 2000 | Courtney Brown | Penn State | Cleveland |
| 2006 | Mario Williams | North Carolina State | Houston |
| YEAR | PLAYER | POSITION | COLLEGE | OVERALL |
| 2004 | Dunta Robinson | CB | South Carolina | 10 |
| Jason Babin | LB | Western Michigan | 27 | |
| 2005 | Travis Johnson | DE | Florida State | 16 |
| 2006 | Mario Williams | DE | NC State | 1 |
It was a stellar Round 1 for N.C. State. For the first time in its history, the school had more than one player chosen in the first round. It had, in fact, three players taken in the round -- all from the defensive line:
- Mario Williams (DE), No. 1, Houston
- Manny Lawson (DE), No. 22, San Francisco
- John McCargo (DT), No. 26, Buffalo
The selection of Mario Williams with the first pick in the draft upped the all-time total of defensive linemen chosen first to 13, third most for a position in history. The breakdown of No. 1 overall selections by position:
- Quarterbacks (26)
- Running Backs (23)
- Defensive Linemen (13)
- Wide Receivers (6)
- Offensive Linemen (5)
- Linebackers (3)
- Defensive Backs (1)
TOTAL (77)
* Includes six AFL choices
USC's Reggie Bush, chosen second overall by New Orleans, became the 10th Trojans running back to be taken in the first round. Southern California first-round RBs:
| YEAR | PLAYER | TEAM | OVERALL SELECTION |
| 1952 | Frank Gifford | N.Y. Giants | 11 |
| 1953 | Al Carmichael | Green Bay | 7 |
| 1957 | Jon Arnett | Los Angeles | 2 |
| 1968 | Mike Hull | Chicago | 16 |
| 1969 | O.J. Simpson | Buffalo | 1 |
| 1973 | Sam Cunningham | New England | 11 |
| 1977 | Ricky Bell | Tampa Bay | 1 |
| 1980 | Charles White | Cleveland | 27 |
| 1982 | Marcus Allen | Oakland | 10 |
| 2006 | Reggie Bush | New Orleans | 2 |
THE OHIO STATE!
For the second time in its history, Ohio State had two linebackers -- A.J. Hawk and Bobby Carpenter -- taken in the first round, matching 1974. Buckeyes first-round linebackers:
| YEAR | LINEBACKER | TEAM | OVERALL SELECTION |
| 1960 | Jim Houston | Cleveland | 8 |
| 1974 | Rick Middleton | New Orleans | 13 |
| Randy Gradishar | Denver | 14 | |
| 1977 | Bob Brudzinski | LA Rams | 23 |
| 1979 | Tom Cousineau | Buffalo | 1 |
| 1995 | Craig Powell | Cleveland | 30 |
| 1999 | Andy Katzenmoyer | New England | 28 |
| 2006 | A.J. Hawk | Green Bay | 5 |
| Bobby Carpenter | Dallas | 18 |
VINCE IN RARE LONGHORN TERRITORYTexas quarterback Vince Young tied a Longhorns Pro Football of Famer when he was picked No. 3 overall by Tennessee.
Former Texas great Bobby Layne was selected at that spot by the Chicago Bears in 1948, the highest-picked Longhorns QB until Young matched that. Young became only the fifth Texas quarterback to be chosen in the NFL draft:
| YEAR | QUARTERBACK | OVERALL | NFL TEAM |
| 1948 | Bobby Layne | 3 | Chicago Bears |
| Paul Campbell | 22 | Philadelphia | |
| 1984 | Rich McIvor | 80 | St. Louis |
| 2003 | Chris Simms | 97 | Tampa Bay |
| 2006 | Vince Young | 3 | Tennessee |
The selection of Vanderbilt quarterback Jay Cutler by Denver with the 11th choice in the first round marked several Commodores milestones. Cutler became ...
- The first Vanderbilt player taken in the first round since T Will Wilford by Buffalo in 1986 (No. 20 overall).
- The highest Vanderbilt player taken since DB Leonard Coleman was chosen with the eighth pick in 1984 by Indianapolis.
- The highest-selected Vandy quarterback since Bill Wade was picked with the No. 1 overall choice in 1952 by Los Angeles.
