Seattle Seahawks' new players Lawrence Jackson, left, John Carlson, middle, and head coach Mike Holmgren are introduced at the press conference today in Kirkland.

Seattle Seahawks' new players Lawrence Jackson, left, John Carlson, middle, and head coach Mike Holmgren are introduced at the press conference on Monday, April 28, 2008 in Kirkland, Wash.

The Seahawks are now projecting 5:17 p.m. Pacific time for their first pick of the day, 55th overall. We have the first-round picks in this Excel file (includes the top 500 prospects as identified by NFL Draft Scout). The first-round breakdown goes like this: seven defensive linemen (five ends), seven defensive backs (four safeties), six receivers, four offensive linemen, three linebackers, two running backs, two quarterbacks and a tight end.

By the way, ESPN notes that this draft lasted six hours and eight minutes, longest for an NFL first round (4:48 was elapsed time in 2006).

I've updated the NFL Draft Scout 500-player rankings to reflect where the players have been selected through the first 21 picks. That Excel file is here. A positional look at the first 21 picks: six defensive linemen (four DEs), six defensive backs (three CBs), two receivers, two offensive linemen (Ts), two running backs, two linebackers and a quarterback.

The draft seems like a somewhat uncomfortable time for an NFL beat reporter. Interest is sky-high and opinions are in demand, but facts are elusive. We have relied on NFL Draft Scout's Rob Rang for predraft analysis because he has studied the college prospects in detail. I'm accustomed to discussing things I've studied every day, and even then it's not a beat reporter's role to go around issuing opinions. Who should the Raiders draft first overall? Ask me in five years. Having stood on the Martin Stadium turf while Bill Polian and Bobby Beathard sized up Ryan Leaf at Washington State in 1998, I would say this: Even the people who study this stuff every day are guessing.

Now that you've read our disclaimer, we invite you pick apart my 2007 mock draft. I leaned hard on NFL Draft Scout's 500-player rankings, made available here with permission from site owner Frank Cooney, in determining each player's value. This Excel file includes those rankings, with an additional column showing where I had the first 32 players going. A similar approach worked well last year. I'll check in a bit later, after finishing my stories for the Saturday paper.

NFL Draft Scout's Rob Rang has thrown lots of information our way over the last several days. It's a lot to digest. I've combined his projections into an Excel file that allows for easy sorting by round, overall choice, name, specific position, general position, positional need and college.

Each entry also includes a few words from Rob explaining why he thought the player might make sense for Seattle at each pick. The positional need column, labeled "Sando priority", shows how each position ranks in terms of Seattle's perceived needs. That information is offered as a general guide. I assigned the needs in this order: DL, OL, TE, DB, LB, RB, WR and QB. This allows us to rank the players by perceived need within projected order of selection.

We also get a projected positional "hot list" for the Seahawks, as determined by Rob, and a fun way to look at the picks Seattle actually makes. Note: This blog entry was updated to include defensive backs, who were initially left off the list. The file was updated again once I received Rob's projections at quarterback.

We would never spend our coveted offseason down time putting together a story on the NFL supplemental draft, particularly on a day when we're taking the kids to a local animal park. But given that Gil Brandt apparently had no such options this week, we are happy to channel his NFL.com story here. Brandt knows these subjects inside and out from his many years as a personnel executive with the Cowboys. His story on the upcoming supplemental draft, tentatively scheduled for July 13, gives us a chance to learn more about something only league insiders tend to follow.

=> Read more!

The first 25 picks have gone as follows: five linebackers, three cornerbacks, three safeties, three defensive ends, three quarterbacks, two defensive tackles two running backs, two offensive linemen, one tight end and one receiver. If you combine the corners and safeties, you get six defensive backs, most of any position group.

Feel free to sort the first 25 picks by various categories using our
Excel spreadsheet or simply view them in this PDF file.

Several of the higher-ranked defensive backs remain available as the Seahawks' first pick approaches (31st overall). The team had been considering Penn State DE Tamba Hali, but he's off the board to Kansas City. LB Manny Lawson was another guy Seattle would have considered, but he too is gone. Our projected pick, CB Kelly Jennings of Miami, remains on the board for now.

We've put together an Excel file featuring a 13-way mock-draft comparison. You can download it here. I'll consider adding to this as the week progresses and more mock drafts become available. The file was updated tonight to reflect an updated mock draft from Pat Kirwan of NFL.com. He changed his Seattle pick from Davin Joseph to Donte Whitner.

With the change, our 13 initial mock drafters have Seattle taking the following players: G Davin Joseph (2), CB Kelly Jennings (2), S Darnell Bing (2), S Jason Allen (2), S Donte Whitner (1), G Deuce Lutui (1), LB Kamerion Wimbley (1), CB Johnathan Joseph (1) and DE Mathias Kiwanuka (1). If people have Seattle taking guards because they perceive it as a "need" pick, I might wonder if their knowledge of the Seahawks goes beyond, say, the recent loss of Steve Hutchinson. If people have Seattle taking guards because they think that player will be the best available when the Hawks pick, that would seem to make more sense. I still think Seattle will try to find a way to draft for defense early.

Note: The Excel file features two sheets. Information is the same on both sheets, but the first sheet assigns a shaded color to each Seattle projection. This way you can easily see where other mock drafters think the given player might be picked (or not picked). The second sheet features no shading as a courtesy to those of you who might be annoyed by such a thing (and you know who you are). Also, clicking on the names of the mock drafters will point your Web browser to the sites where the corresponding mock drafts can be found online.

Dave Goldberg of the Associated Press wrote the kind of story I like: a 10-year retrospective on the 1996 NFL draft. Goldberg conducts his own "re-draft" based on how the players panned out (or, in the case of No. 5 overall pick Cedric Jones and others, did NOT pan out). The AP action shot at left reminds us of the days when commissioner Paul Tagliabue wore specs straight out of Carl Perkins' dressing room.

I figured our more deranged readers (me included) would find Dave's story more enjoyable with this Microsoft Excel file featuring all 254 picks from that draft class sortable by round, overall choice, team, player, position and college. We also have a PDF version for those without Excel.

The following chart shows the top 10 picks that year: