There Are Quality Players in This NFL Draft, and the Trading Is About to Start

Jim Finks, president of the New Orleans Saints, was among those discussing today’s National Football League draft recently when someone asked him about the quality in the first round.

“There’s quite a bit,” Finks said. “But the exciting thing to me is that a lot of guys drafted in the second and third round every year are as good as the first-round bunch. I predict that it will happen again.”

If so, it could interest some Pacific Coast readers. First-round drafting, scheduled to start at 5 a.m. PDT, probably will be well under way this morning when most of them get up.

“We got (running back) Rueben Mayes on the third round last year,” Finks said, referring to the 1986 Rookie of the Year. “You never really know.”

You never know who’ll be making the player deals today, either, Dallas Coach Tom Landry added.

“People have almost quit trading before the draft,” he said. “Draft-day trades have become the big thing in the last few years. But you can’t tell by talking to (other coaches) who’s really in the market for a player.”

Rankin Smith Sr., president of the Atlanta Falcons, said he’s contemplating one kind of player particularly in today’s lottery.

“You often hear about what it takes to make a championship team,” Smith said. “Some think it’s the secondary. Some think it’s the offensive line. But when you get around to it, nobody’s ever won without a superstar, and we really don’t have one right now.”

Later today, maybe.

The Raiders, Rams and 26 other teams will be drafting from their home offices all day while maintaining telephone contact with draft headquarters at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York. All 12 rounds are expected to be completed before midnight tonight. That’s PDT.

ORDER OF DRAFT

Pick Team 1. Tampa Bay 2. Indianapolis 3. Buffalo 4. Green Bay 5. San Diego 6. St. Louis 7. Detroit 8. Houston 9. Philadelphia 10. Pittsburgh 11. New Orleans 12. Dallas 13. Atlanta 14. Miami 15. Raiders 16. Minnesota 17. Cincinnati 18. Seattle 19. Kansas City 20. Houston* 21. New York Jets 22. San Francisco 23. New England 24. Cleveland 25. San Francisco** 26. Chicago 27. Denver 28. N.Y. Giants

*--From Rams **--From Washington