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

With the selection of Williams, the Texans continue their trend of choosing defensive players with their first-round picks. The club has gone for defense with their past four first-round selections:

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

Williams has a unique perspective on his position. It's a do-it-yourself job, he says. "The running backs, you'll have two or three come out every year that are phenomenal players," he told the New York Times this week. "They need their offensive line, they need somebody who can block. Pass rushing, I do that myself."

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

CUTLER'S A VANDY DANDY
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.