All three teams in the new NFC North Division drafted before the Bears took Boston College offensive tackle Marc Colombo on Saturday. All four teams took offense first.
The Minnesota Vikings had to “settle” for a 6-foot-8-inch, 345-pound offensive tackle who has never given up a sack after the Vikes lost their first choice by a few ticks on the clock Saturday.
The Detroit Lions said Oregon quarterback Joey Harrington was their man all along, even though they bluffed about being committed to last year’s fifth-round quarterback, Mike McMahon.
“The Ford Motor Co. has a lot of good cars. We’ll take a lot of good quarterbacks,” said Lions President Matt Millen, giving his owners a plug.
The Green Bay Packers, desperate to help quarterback Brett Favre, traded up to land relatively unknown receiver Javon Walker from Florida State, giving up their second-round choice to Seattle to do it.
Vikings coach Mike Tice admitted his team had North Carolina defensive tackle Ryan Sims written on a card. Minnesota delivered it to the podium at draft headquarters in New York as the 15-minute time limit appeared to expire on the Dallas Cowboys at the sixth pick in the first round.
But league officials informed the Vikings that the Cowboys had completed a trade with the Kansas City Chiefs, swapping the sixth and eighth picks. The Chiefs beat the Vikings to Sims, and the Vikings ended up drafting Miami’s huge Bryant McKinnie.
“They told us they had the trade done in time,” Tice said. “Bryant is an excellent football player. We had the two players rated closely.”
McKinnie will help rebuild a Vikings offensive line that was devastated last Aug. 1 by the death of right tackle Korey Stringer. But Tice said Sims was ticketed for the middle of a defense that finished 27th and still needs help.
Harrington is the first quarterback selected by the Lions in the first round since Heisman Trophy winner Andre Ware, a flop in 1990. Harrington is the third “franchise” quarterback in the NFC North, joining Favre and Minnesota’s Daunte Culpepper for the Bears to face.
Walker, a big receiver at 6-3, was timed in 4.39 in the 40-yard dash and moved up draft charts. The arrival of Walker, a former baseball player, plus the trade for Terry Glenn signals a new era of receivers for Favre. Bill Schroeder already signed with Detroit, and Antonio Freeman looks like a certain June 1 salary cap casualty.
The Packers also spent a No. 2 pick last year on a receiver, Robert Ferguson.
Detroit drafted the first defensive player in the division, taking South Carolina linebacker-defensive end Kalimba Edwards with the 35th pick. He was ignored by the Bears six picks earlier despite their need for a pass rusher.
