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NFC West teams loaded up on halfbacks (as opposed to pure fullbacks) during the recently completed 2013 NFL draft.

The division selected six of them, two more than any other division selected.

A quick look at how the six could figure into their teams' plans:

• Second round, 62nd overall: Christine Michael, Texas A&M. Michael heads to the Seattle Seahawks as the third back behind Marshawn Lynch and Robert Turbin, with a chance to challenge Turbin for the No. 2 role initially. Michael provides longer-term insurance for the position, but he could be talented enough to get carries as a rookie.
• Fourth round, 131st overall: Marcus Lattimore, South Carolina. The San Francisco 49ers plan to give Lattimore as much as one full season to complete his rehabilitation from a career-threatening knee injury. Lattimore factors into the 49ers' longer-term plans at the position, possibly as a replacement for Frank Gore down the line. There will be no rush to get him on the field in 2013.
• Fifth round, 140th overall: Stepfan Taylor, Stanford. The Arizona Cardinals already have Rashard Mendenhall and Ryan Williams, but both have had injury problems. Taylor, the career rushing leader at Stanford, provides immediate insurance at the position. His credentials as a power runner could make him a candidate to handle short-yardage duties. Durability has been a strength for Taylor, differentiating him from Mendenhall and Williams. Coach Bruce Arians values three-down backs. He considers Taylor one of them.
• Fifth round, 160th overall: Zac Stacy, Vanderbilt. The St. Louis Rams plan to use Stacy in committee with Isaiah Pead and Daryl Richardson. Stacy is heavier and stouter than the others. He appears better suited for handling a workload on early downs and in short-yardage situations. Stacy could wind up getting more carries than any of the other rookie backs in the division.
• Sixth round, 187th overall: Andre Ellington, Clemson. The Cardinals expect to keep four running backs on the roster, giving Ellington a very good chance to stick as a change-of-pace back with big-play potential and value in the return game. The Cardinals said they weren't planning on drafting another back, but they thought the value was strong and that Ellington provided a style the other backs on the roster did not provide.
• Sixth round, 194th overall: Spencer Ware, LSU. Ware was a halfback for the Tigers, but he has also played fullback. The Seahawks expect the 230-pound Ware to push veteran fullback Michael Robinson. They value Robinson as a lead blocker and for his contributions on special teams. Ware would be the better runner of the two.

Quinton Patton, the wide receiver San Francisco selected in the fourth round of the 2013 NFL draft, "has a passion for the game and it shows," draft analyst Nolan Nawrocki wrote in his annual preview guide.

The 49ers can attest to that passion after Patton showed up ready to get a jump on his career. There was one problem. Rules prevent rookies from reporting until rookie camps, which are more than a week away. Patton had to catch a flight home, but the initiative he showed resonated with coach Jim Harbaugh.

"[The] fact he buys a ticket, flies out here, speaks volumes about him," Harbaugh told KNBR radio in San Francisco, according to San Jose Mercury news reporter Cam Inman.

Patton hopefully collected some frequent-flier miles in the process.

Cornerback Javier Arenas is the player Arizona will receive in return from Kansas City for fullback Anthony Sherman, the Arizona Republic's Kent Somers reports.

This move makes sense on the surface.

Sherman did not fit the Cardinals' new offense, which does not utilize a traditional fullback. Arenas, a 2010 second-round choice by the Chiefs' previous leadership, projects as a slot cornerback in a division that has added slot receivers Percy Harvin and Tavon Austin.

"Size hurts him, but Arenas is feisty and a big-time asset on special teams," said Matt Williamson, who scouts the NFL for ESPN.com.

The Chiefs signed veteran corner Dunta Robinson before using a fifth-round choice for cornerback Sanders Commings. They added cornerback Sean Smith in free agency. They already had Brandon Flowers. Arenas was apparently the odd corner out.

The Cardinals plan for 2013 third-round choice Tyrann Mathieu to play weak safety and slot cornerback, but Arenas would come to Arizona with game experience. Mathieu and Arenas are both 5-foot-9. Arenas is listed at 197 pounds. Mathieu is listed at 186. There is overlap between the players. Arenas could also provide some insurance for Mathieu, whose off-field issues have made him a higher-risk player in the Cardinals' eyes.

Arenas started nine games last season and played 693 snaps on defense, the third-highest total among Chiefs defensive backs behind Eric Berry (967) and Flowers (840).

Jump ahead to 2015 and put yourself in John Schneider's seat as the Seattle Seahawks' general manager.

By then, you will have re-signed or lost elite players such as safety Earl Thomas and cornerback Richard Sherman.

Your quarterback, Russell Wilson, will be entering the final year of his rookie contract. Wilson will be eligible to sign a new one for the first time under the NFL's labor rules.

The same goes for Bobby Wagner, your starting middle linebacker, and Bruce Irvin, your highly drafted pass-rusher. All will cost much more than they're costing right now.

Your Pro Bowl left tackle, Russell Okung, will also be entering a contract year.

One receiver, Percy Harvin, will have a contract counting $12.9 million against the salary cap. Another, Sidney Rice, will have a deal counting $10.2 million.

Oh, and one other thing about this 2015 adventure: You'll have to decide whether to pay a $2 million roster bonus and $5.5 million salary for a running back entering his ninth season.

Marshawn Lynch is that running back, and right now, in 2013, he's about as good as they come, this side of Adrian Peterson. But you'll need younger, more economical alternatives for some of your best players down the line. These aren't the sort of immediate needs that show up in draft previews, but they're always lurking.

Now, thanks to one of the more surprising moves in the 2013 draft, the Seahawks have bought insurance for their future at the position most vulnerable to age.

Christine Michael, the Texas A&M running back Seattle unexpectedly selected 62nd overall Friday, must by rule sign a four-year contract through 2016. His deal will run past the contracts that Lynch and backup running back Robert Turbin signed last offseason. It will count far less against the cap than the $9 million Lynch's deal is scheduled to count in 2015.

Seattle probably did not draft Michael with the distant future in the front of its mind. One explanation trumps all others when determining why the Seahawks used a second-round draft choice for a running back with two perfectly good ones on the roster already. The team thinks Michael can be special.

"He was the highest-rated player on our board and we lost Leon Washington, so we were looking for a little bit of depth there, and he is just our kind of runner," Schneider said. "He's a tough, intense, up-field, one-cut guy, and he's just a very good football player, competitor."

Adding Michael does not imperil Lynch for the 2013 season, of course. It does provoke natural tendencies to wonder whether there's more to this story.

"I could be far-fetched here," Kevin from McKinney, Texas, wrote to the NFC West mailbag, illustrating how far the mind can wander, "but is it possible John Schneider and [coach] Pete Carroll are concerned with Lynch's future effectiveness due to the new lowering of the crown rule? It seems to me that is a big part of his game and significantly contributes to his yards after contact."

There is no way the rulebook pressured Seattle into drafting a running back.

Carroll and other coaches fear officials will struggle enforcing the new rule preventing runners from lowering their heads and delivering an aggressive blow to the opponent with the top of the helmet. The rule could affect Lynch, but league officials said they discovered only a few would-be violations per week when studying tape from last season.

The Seahawks selected Michael because they thought he was the best back in the draft and well-suited to their offense. They wanted additional depth for their running game, which will remain the focus of their offense. They have to realize that Lynch's back spasms, while manageable to this point, could become more problematic with additional wear and tear. And they surely realize that Lynch's occasional off-field troubles dating to his time with the Buffalo Bills could recur, inviting sanctions.

Adding Michael doesn't mean the team thinks less of Lynch or Turbin, a 2012 fourth-round choice. There are no indications the team is anticipating a Lynch suspension in relation to his DUI arrest last offseason.

Still, I would bet against Lynch playing out the final year of his deal when Michael and Turbin figure to be available at a significant discount.

Seattle was fortunate in 2010 to have a running back of Lynch's caliber and young age (then 24) become available by trade at reasonable cost. The team was wise to re-sign Lynch one year ago to a four-year deal featuring $17 million in guaranteed money.

This marriage should be good for both parties for the next couple of seasons.

Lynch's deal pays him $7 million in salary with an $8.5 million salary-cap charge in 2013. It carries a $5 million salary and $7 million cap number in 2014. The team will have a decision to make at that point because Lynch's deal includes a $5.5 million salary and a $2 million roster bonus with a $9 million cap figure for 2015, the contract's final year.

Michael, a luxury buy at present, should be much more than that by then.

St. Louis Rams general manager Les Snead recently joined ESPN's Colin Cowherd for a discussion on the recently concluded 2013 NFL draft.

Snead noted that the Rams felt vulnerable holding the 16th overall choice for fear they wouldn't be "jacked" about any of the players likely to be available with that pick. That was one reason the team traded up to get Tavon Austin.

Cowherd also asked Snead whether the team missed out on any of the players it really wanted. This tends to happen from time to time in a draft. It's refreshing when a GM acknowledges it the way Snead did in this conversation. Why pretend every draft goes 100 percent to plan when that almost invariably is not the case given all the variables at work?

"In this draft, there was one player where probably about four picks before I was like, 'Dang,'" Snead said. "The guys we did pick, they were targeted. But in every draft there's always one or two where you go, 'Ah, I can't believe it. I wish that wouldn't have happened.'"

Snead wasn't going to identify why player the Rams narrowly missed in this draft. We can narrow the list through some amateur sleuthing.

Snead previously said the first round went 100 percent to plan. The Rams traded up for Austin and hoped to get Alec Ogletree after trading back from No. 22 to No. 30. We can rule out those two picks.

The Rams also traded up in the fifth round to select running back Zac Stacy. We can eliminate from consideration the choices immediately before the team selected Stacy.

Rams coach Jeff Fisher said the team was nervous that safety T.J. McDonald would not be available when the team picked at No. 71 in the third round.

"That was a 'hold your breath' pick, because we were a little bit nervous," Fisher told reporters after the draft.

We can eliminate that choice from consideration as well.

I'm guessing the team was targeting wide receiver Stedman Bailey with the second of its third-round selections. Bailey played with Austin at West Virginia. Receiver was a position the Rams wanted to address. No receivers were selected with the 12 picks preceding Bailey's selection. The San Francisco 49ers chose pass-rusher Corey Lemonier four spots before the Rams took Stedman. Seattle took defensive tackle Jordan Hill a spot before that.

That would leave the Rams' fourth-round selection of center Barrett Jones and fifth-round selection of cornerback Brandon McGee as more likely candidates, in my view.

Green Bay selected an offensive lineman, David Bakhtiari, four spots before the Rams took Jones. Offensive linemen Edmund Kugbila (Carolina) and Brian Schwenke (Tennessee) went off the board right before Bakhtiari was selected.

San Diego selected a corner four spots before the Rams took McGee.

The chart below shows the Rams' picks in the final row and the five players selected immediately before each one of them.

If the Rams missed out on only one player they really wanted and it happened somewhere on the third day, they had to consider themselves fortunate.

Chatting with Bernie Miklasz about the NFC West in general and the St. Louis Rams in particular has become a staple each Tuesday.

The run is ending this week after Bernie hosted his final show on 101ESPN St. Louis. Bernie isn't leaving, fortunately. He's recommitting to his main job at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The paper has created an expanded role for him through its website. We'll stay in touch and collaborate in new ways, I'm sure.

In the meantime, I wanted to share the audio link to our conversation Tuesday. This was a Rams-only conversation primarily about their draft, specifically how the team has changed on offense.

The chart below shows key receivers, tight ends and running backs for the Rams in their final game before coach Jeff Fisher and general manager Les Snead arrived. It also shows key players at those positions now. Some of the players from the 2011 regular-season finale were on injured reserve at the time. The last two receivers listed in the right column aren't key players at the position. I included their names to even up the chart.
 

A long list of NFL mock drafts projected Oklahoma State receiver Justin Blackmon to the St. Louis Rams one year ago.

It's looking like the Rams came out just fine without him.

Blackmon, charged with DUI last offseason when authorities said they measured his blood-alcohol content at .24 percent, faces a four-game NFL suspension to open the 2013 season, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter.

These are the sorts of troubles NFL teams can do without.

The Rams held the sixth overall pick in the 2012 draft. Jacksonville traded into the No. 5 spot to select Blackmon. The Rams then traded back, eventually taking defensive tackle Michael Brockers, who showed flashes of dominance after recovering from injury.

St. Louis wound up using a 2012 second-round choice for receiver Brian Quick and a fourth-rounder for Chris Givens. The team drafted receivers Tavon Austin and Stedman Bailey over the weekend.

Blackmon caught 64 passes for 865 yards and five touchdowns as a rookie. He led all drafted rookies in receiving yards and tied Kendall Wright for most receptions. Blackmon also suffered nine drops, according to ESPN Stats & Information.

Givens caught 42 passes for 698 yards and three scores. Quick added 11 receptions for 156 yards and two scores.

A four-game suspension for Blackmon would prevent him from playing against Kansas City, Oakland, Seattle and Indianapolis to open the season. He would be eligible to return for the Jaguars' Week 5 game -- against the Rams in the Edward Jones Dome.

The Arizona Cardinals' plan to require periodic drug tests for 2013 third-round choice Tyrann Mathieu is permissible under the collective bargaining agreement, which allows for "testing by agreement" under certain restrictions.

George Atallah, assistant executive director of external affairs for the NFL Players Association, passed along the following CBA language upon request earlier Monday:

"An NFL club and a player may agree that such player will submit to unannounced Testing during the term of said player’s NFL Player Contract provided that the club has a reasonable basis for requesting such agreement. A Positive Test (as hereinafter defined) as a result of such Testing shall be reported to the Medical Director and shall result in the player’s entering Stage One of the Intervention Program.

"Once a player enters an Intervention Stage the number of Tests that a player will be required to take will be determined by the Medical Director or the Medical Advisor, as set forth herein – not by the terms of the player’s NFL Player Contract. Upon being dismissed from the Intervention Stages, a player’s NFL Player Contract will govern the number of Tests that he is subjected to.

"All such individually negotiated Testing shall be conducted under the direction of the Medical Advisor and not the club. In cases of individually negotiated Testing, the Medical Advisor and other Interested Parties will continue to be bound by the confidentiality provisions established by this Policy."

I had not immediately found the language in the CBA, but in Googling some of it, I see that Pro Football Talk also published these passages in relation to Mathieu.

Mathieu's publicly stated eagerness to comply with such additional testing should be encouraging to the Cardinals. Arizona would not have drafted Mathieu without such assurances, it appears.

"Their biggest thing is they want to be able to trust me," Mathieu told reporters in Arizona. "They want to be able to know that I've crossed that bridge. In order to do that, the Cardinals and I are going to agree to a contract. In order for that contract to go through, I'm going to have to do certain things and I’m going to have to be certain places. That’s my responsibility, and I accept it."

Sports Illustrated's Peter King spent Thursday night in the St. Louis Rams' draft room and will report extensively on the experience later this week.

In the meantime, he passed along two Rams-related nuggets, plus a note on the Arizona Cardinals' third-round choice, in his post-draft piece Monday:

• Ogletree was the guy: Most teams gush about their draft choices, leaving the impression the draft fell just right for them. Rams general manager Les Snead said Thursday night that the team's No. 1 scenario was to trade up for Tavon Austin before trading back to get Alec Ogletree. Both things happened. King verifies what Snead said when he writes, "The Rams coveted Ogletree, and they took a calculated risk they'd lose him by not picking him at 22. In fact, had they lost Ogletree between 22 and 30, it would have cast a pall over the entire draft." I had no reason to doubt what Snead was saying, but at the same time, there's no way he would have said publicly that the team had settled for one player after missing out on another. So, King's testimony from inside the draft room was helpful.
• Sanders was fallback: The Rams would have targeted Ace Sanders in the third or fourth round had they been unable to select Austin in the first. Sanders goes 5-foot-7 and 173 pounds. Austin is listed at 5-8 and 174. The Jaguars selected Sanders with the fourth pick of the fourth round, No. 101 overall. The Rams selected Austin's receiving teammate, Stedman Bailey, nine picks earlier.
• Honey Badger: The Cardinals expect to insure their gamble on third-round choice Tyrann Mathieu by giving the defensive back known as "Honey Badger" a contract with no guaranteed money. They also plan to randomly test Mathieu for drugs as often as once per week. Mathieu sounded amenable to such provisions in discussing his situation with reporters in Arizona. How far can a rookie contract go while remaining permissible under the collective bargaining agreement? I'll ask around.

Mel Kiper Jr., Todd McShay and six-time NFL executive of the year Bill Polian singled out two NFC West teams when discussing what they liked and did not like in the 2013 NFL draft.

The video features their thoughts.

Separately, ESPN SportsNation provides an opportunity for you to rate how teams fared. The San Francisco 49ers and St. Louis Rams have been leading in polling for the NFC West.

The NFC West's fiercest current rivals, San Francisco and Seattle, both wound up selecting tight ends from Rice University in the recently completed NFL draft.

How the 49ers and Seahawks selected those tight ends invites a question: Did the 49ers snatch from Seattle a player the Seahawks would have selected?

Tight end was seen as a primary need for the 49ers and a secondary one for the Seahawks based on how each team has run its offense recently.

When NFL teams selected three tight ends between the 21st and 47th selections, San Francisco risked watching more players at the position come off the board before it was scheduled to select with the 61st overall choice. So, with Green Bay on the clock at No. 55 and Seattle scheduled to pick at No. 56, the 49ers traded into the Packers' slot to select Vance McDonald, the more prominent of Rice's tight ends last season.

Seattle then traded back six spots to No. 62 before selecting Texas A&M running back Christine Michael. The Seahawks later selected McDonald's teammate, tight end Luke Willson, in the fifth round at No. 158 overall.

To my knowledge, no one asked 49ers general manager Trent Baalke or his Seattle counterpart, John Schneider, about the sequence when San Francisco jumped past the Seahawks to select McDonald. The two men worked together in Washington years ago and could have a good feel for the other's tendencies. However, there is no way the 49ers could have known whether the Seahawks or any other team was going to select McDonald between the 55th and 61st selections.

"There's times when you want to sit tight and there’s a lot of times where people will question, 'Well, why did you move up five when he would have been there?'" Baalke told reporters when discussing trades in general. "Well, there’s no proof that the player would have been there. So, you do what you need to do to make sure you get the players you want to get."

By trading up six spots, the 49ers moved past Atlanta, New England, Denver, Houston and Seattle in the draft order. Three of those five teams selected tight ends later in the draft. Atlanta used a fourth-rounder for Stanford's Levine Toilolo. Seattle used the fifth-rounder for Willson. Houston used a sixth-rounder for Ryan Griffin from Connecticut.

Baalke could have sized up those teams' needs collectively when deciding to move up for McDonald. He might not have had only the Seahawks in mind.

The 49ers had enough picks to move around the board freely to fill needs at values agreeable to them. The price they paid Green Bay for the 55th choice -- the 61st and 173rd picks -- was lower than the price Seattle commanded for the 56th selection (Baltimore handed over the 62nd, 165th and 199th picks for that one).

Comparatively, then, the 49ers got a good deal. Why not move up if the price is right? The Packers have long been known as a team willing to move back for additional picks. They simply could have made for a convenient trading partner whether or not Seattle was scheduled to select one spot later.

Teams usually have several players in mind for each selection they hold. They move up when the list of players they consider worthy of a certain value range dwindles, or if a specific player within striking distance is rated far higher than others likely to be available to them. They move down when the list of worthy players is longer.

"I don't know that you ever trade back six, seven, eight picks and hope one player's there," Baalke said when explaining why the 49ers traded back six spots to No. 40. "That's risky business. So, we had a number of players that we were willing to take. And at that time we felt that one of that group of guys was going to be available at 40, and we would have been happy with all of them."

The fact that McDonald and Willson both played at Rice before winding up in the NFC West seems coincidental.

"Vance was obviously the more stout guy, if you will," Schneider said. "Willson was more of the down-the-field threat, but there is no question Vance was much more involved in their offense."

Injuries limited Willson in 2012. He previously played first base on the Canadian national team and spent time in the Toronto Blue Jays organization. According to the Vancouver Sun, Willson posted impressive numbers at his pro day: 4.46 seconds in the 40-yard dash, 38-inch vertical leap, 10-plus feet in the broad jump and 23 reps of 225 pounds in the bench press.

"We like the fact that for us he was the second-best tester of all the tight ends in this draft," Schneider said. "He is 6-5 1/2, running 4.51 and great hands, can get down the field. He is quick off the ball, gets his shoulders around quick. He is a really interesting prospect for us."

Baalke said his team valued McDonald's versatility in particular. McDonald also led all tight ends at the NFL scouting combine with 31 reps on the bench press.

"He's 260-plus pounds, he's got a huge wingspan, he's got big hands," Baalke said. "He lines up all over the place. He lines up a little bit in the backfield. He lines up on the line of scrimmage. He lines up in the wing position, off the line of scrimmage. And he also lines up outside. He's smart, he's tough and he is a good fit within our system."

Good morning, NFC West.

How refreshing it is to finish an NFL draft without a single team from the division worrying about its quarterback situation. That was one of my takeaways from the 2013 draft.

The San Francisco 49ers were the only team from the NFC West to select a quarterback. They waited until the 237th overall choice to select B.J. Daniels from South Florida. The team might have valued Daniels more for his potential to contribute in other areas, including at running back, receiver and in the return game.

Colin Kaepernick, Russell Wilson, Sam Bradford and Carson Palmer are firmly established as NFC West starting quarterbacks for 2013.

With the quarterback position covered, NFC West teams loaded up on wide receivers, continuing a trend that began when Anquan Boldin and Percy Harvin joined the division by trade. The 49ers added Boldin for a sixth-round pick. Seattle added Harvin for first- and seventh-rounders this year, plus a third-rounder in 2014.

Then came the draft. NFC West teams used more draft capital for wide receivers than any other division used, based on the total value of picks for wideouts according to the traditional draft-value chart and the newer Harvard one we've referenced lately. The AFC South was second by both measures.

The Rams added Tavon Austin in the first round and Stedman Bailey in the third. The 49ers added Quinton Patton in the fourth, where Seattle found Chris Harper. The Cardinals added Ryan Swope in the sixth round. Every one of those players is expected to earn a roster spot. Austin in particular should contribute right away.

NFL teams added 254 players through the recently completed 2013 NFL draft.

Now is the time to seek higher ground for a better view of what happened. The two charts in this item help bring into focus where NFC West teams should expect results.



The chart at right breaks down NFC West picks by two general parameters: position group and draft round. Listing individual positions and individual rounds would have watered down the results. I've settled on more general position groups and two general round ranges.

Skill positions cover quarterbacks, running backs and wide receivers.

Every team in the division added three players from this skill-position group, but the Rams added more of theirs over the first three rounds.

St. Louis made wide receiver an early focus by adding former West Virginia teammates Tavon Austin (first round) and Stedman Bailey (third round). The Rams did not force a receiver pick at No. 16. Instead, they moved up for Austin and then selected Bailey with a pick acquired from Atlanta for moving back from St. Louis' other spot in the first round.

Note that the San Francisco 49ers and Seattle Seahawks added numbers to their defensive front sevens after fielding two of the NFL's best defenses last season. The Rams added only one player to this group, but no team in the division used a higher pick than the Rams when addressing this area. Outside linebacker Alec Ogletree was the Rams' pick at No. 30.

The second chart shows how much draft capital each NFC West team invested in the general position groups. The point totals reflect summed values for picks using the an updated version of the chart Kevin Meers produced for the Harvard College Sports Analysis Collective. We discussed this chart in March as an alternative to the traditional value chart.

Meers used the Career Approximate Value figures from Pro Football Reference to determine a historical value for each pick. The figures for drafted players from 1980 through 2005 set the values based on how well players from each draft slot had performed in the NFL.

For example, the Arizona Cardinals selected two offensive linemen. They used the seventh overall pick, valued at 330.3 points on the Harvard chart, for North Carolina guard Jonathan Cooper. They used the 116th pick, valued at 90.2 points, for James Madison guard Earl Watford. The chart below shows these values for Arizona by round range -- first through third or fourth through seventh -- under the heading for offensive linemen.

This second chart is basically a more nuanced version of the first one. For example, Seattle used more picks for its offensive line over the final four rounds than Arizona used for its line, but the one pick the Cardinals used in this range was worth about the same as the three picks the Seahawks used.

Note: I updated the above paragraph item to reflect Seattle drafting three offensive linemen in the seventh round instead of two. Two of them, Michael Bowie and Jared Smith, had been listed in ESPN's database as defensive tackles. I had already changed the designation for Smith, but had not done so for Bowie. The change evened up the draft capital Seattle and Arizona used for offensive linemen in the final four rounds. The overall premise did not change.

Good morning, NFC West (it's still morning here). I've had a chance to run through Mel Kiper Jr.'s 2013 NFL draft grades for the NFC West.

As Mel notes, "Everybody knows you can't grade an NFL draft on performance the day it ends. You can't do it for years, which is part of the reason why I audit old drafts. What I do here is assess three main things: How much overall talent did a team add based on board position? How effectively did they address key personnel needs? How efficient were they in maneuvering on the draft board?"

With those things in mind, let's take a peek at Kiper Jr.'s grades and offer some initial thoughts. The comments I've included from Mel represent a small sampling of his overall thoughts for each team.

St. Louis Rams

Kiper Jr.'s overall grade: A-minus

Kiper Jr.'s give: "I really liked this draft, and found myself in agreement with my colleagues. Oh, and they still have an extra first-rounder next year. The NFC West arms race is not just a two-team affair."

Sando's take: The Rams set up themselves to succeed in this draft when they traded the 2012 second overall choice to the Washington Redskins. I loved the way they emerged from the first round Thursday night with the most highly rated skill-position player (Tavon Austin) and the same number of total picks they brought into the process. The Rams also addressed immediate needs with most of their picks, which always looks good on paper when a draft concludes. However, St. Louis emerged from this draft with only seven players overall. Eighteen teams drafted between eight and 11 players. The Rams had the two early picks, so they got quality. But a home run for me would have included getting quality and quantity. The Rams had only 52 players on their roster coming into the draft. All those open roster spots made it easier for St. Louis to land more attractive rookie free agents, at least.

Arizona Cardinals

Kiper Jr.'s overall grade: B

Kiper Jr.'s give: "Nothing remarkable about this class, but Carson Palmer's chance to succeed has improved with the presence of Jonathan Cooper, and there's plenty of sleeper potential."

Sando's take: The Cardinals came away with nine players after entering the draft with seven picks. The team had never drafted more than eight players in any year since 2001. The more picks a team has, in general, the more chances to acquire a long-term contributor. Coach Bruce Arians and general manager Steve Keim came into the draft saying their offensive line was going to be OK, particularly at tackle. The team still used the seventh and 116th overall choices for guards, an indication Arians and Keim agreed with public concerns there. I thought Arizona would have been more aggressive in targeting a safety, but the team expects Tyrann Mathieu to provide some flexibility at that position. Adding a couple running backs later in the draft made sense. Rashard Mendenhall and Ryan Williams have breakout potential, but neither has been reliable lately.

San Francisco 49ers

Kiper Jr.'s overall grade: B

Kiper Jr.'s give: "I'd like this draft a little more if they got a safety I had rated higher, but they did well, just as you figured they would."

Sando's take: Analysts are going to disagree about the value of specific players. Kiper Jr. didn't like safety Eric Reid so much. Another analyst, Nolan Nawrocki of Pro Football Weekly, ranked Reid as the 14th-best player in the draft on his overall list published in March. I often prefer revisiting player grades issued well before the draft. I'm skeptical when grades change in the absence of actual football being played. Reid comes to the 49ers as a lower-cost alternative to Dashon Goldson. The 49ers came out of this draft with a likely immediate starter in Reid while addressing needs that might not become acute for another year or so. General manager Trent Baalke likes to say he's in it for the long haul. This draft addressed longer-term needs on the defensive line (Tank Carradine) and at running back (Marcus Lattimore) in particular. Getting a 2014 third-round choice from Tennessee was another long-term move.

Seattle Seahawks

Kiper Jr.'s overall grade: B

Kiper Jr.'s give: "I don't know that Seattle added a starter among their picks, but they certainly added one in Percy Harvin."

Sando's take: The Seahawks have earned the benefit of the doubt in the draft after hitting home runs with Russell Wilson and other players selected over the past three years. I think analysts would be harsher in their day-after-draft analyses if they hadn't been forced to eat their words regarding Wilson in particular. The Seahawks have proven they know what they're doing. Including Harvin in the analysis changes the overall feel for this draft. Otherwise, we could reasonably say the team came away with a backup running back, depth at defensive tackle and a complimentary wide receiver. I can see why the Seahawks wanted to have so many seventh-round picks (four). One, the team has come away with potential starters in that round previously, including J.R. Sweezy. Two, Seattle has relatively few openings on its roster, making it tougher for the team to recruit undrafted free agents. Those seventh-round picks gave Seattle a jump on priority free agents.

Marcus Lattimore saw the 408 area code flash onto his phone and wasn't sure who might be calling him. It was coach Jim Harbaugh from San Francisco 49ers headquarters in Santa Clara. The 49ers were selecting Lattimore with a compensatory pick near the end of the fourth round. Lattimore would be joining the NFC champions about six months after suffering a catastrophic knee injury while playing for South Carolina against Tennessee.

Lattimore might not play in 2013. The 49ers are in no rush to get him on the field. They want him to get the knee right first.