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NEW YORK (April 23, 2005) -- Alex Smith was the first pick in the 2005 NFL Draft by the San Francisco 49ers, who couldn't find a team willing to trade for the top choice when there was no clear-cut No. 1 player. Field PassListen LIVE to NFL games, plus watch video news and features of your favorite team. The 49ers had narrowed their choices to Smith, California quarterback Aaron Rodgers and Michigan wide receiver Braylon Edwards, but chose the Utah passer despite not being able to sign him before the draft. New coach Mike Nolan had also looked to trade and stockpile picks, but was unable to find a willing partner. Even Smith was uncertain his name would be called first. "I had a real good feeling," the 20-year-old said. "Coach Nolan called my table about five minutes before the selection." The 6-foot-4 Smith led Utah to an unbeaten season as a junior, passing for 2,952 yards and 32 touchdowns with only four interceptions. The Miami Dolphins, under new coach Nick Saban, picked Ronnie Brown with the No. 2 pick, the first of two Auburn running backs expected to be taken early. Brown's teammate, Carnell Williams, figured to go soon after. Brown backed up Williams most of his college career, but won his draft-day bet with the elusive tailback nicknamed Cadillac, who is now on the hook for dinner. "Does anyone know any expensive places?" Brown kidded. Brown and Williams are the third running back teammates to be selected in the first round of the same draft, and first since 1987 when Texas A&M's Rod Bernstine went 24th to San Diego and Roger Vick went 21st to the New York Jets. Utah QB Alex Smith is the top choice of the Niners in the 2005 draft. Edwards went No. 3 to the Cleveland Browns, who are also starting over with a new coach, Romeo Crennel, and general manager, Phil Savage. The Browns have the worst record in the NFL since re-entering the league in 1999. Edwards caught 97 passes for 1,330 yards and 15 touchdowns last season. The Chicago Bears selected Texas running back Cedric Benson fourth, trying again to find the star runner they've lacked for most of the years since Walter Payton retired in 1987. Benson was a model of consistency with the Longhorns, topping 1,000 yards rushing in each of his four seasons. Smith follows Eli Manning, Carson Palmer, David Carr and Michael Vick as top selections since 2001. He's also the seventh quarterback taken No. 1 in the past eight years. The 49ers, who won five Super Bowls with Hall of Famers Joe Montana and Steve Young at quarterback in the 1980s and '90s, went 2-14 last season and picked first overall for the first time since 1964, when wide receiver Dave Parks of Texas Tech was the top pick. With Smith going first, Utah is set up to become the first school with the No. 1 pick in both the NFL and NBA drafts. Utes center Andrew Bogut is one of the top college prospects heading into the NBA draft. Tennessee took cornerback Adam "Pacman" Jones from West Virginia with the sixth selection as a replacement for Samari Rolle, who was cut in the Titans' salary cap purge. The Minnesota Vikings used the pick they acquired from the Oakland Raiders for wide receiver Randy Moss to take his replacement, picking Troy Williamson of South Carolina seventh overall. The pick drew boos from draft party in Minnesota, where Vikings fans apparently wanted their team to pick Southern California's Mike Williams, a bigger target who didn't play last year after being denied entry into the NFL draft by a court ruling. Williams didn't have to wait much longer. The Detroit Lions surprisingly took the 6-foot-5 receiver with the 10th pick. The Lions seemed destined to bolster a shaky defense, but instead took a wide receiver for the third straight season. In 2003, Detroit picked Charles Rogers first and last year they selected Roy Williams. Rogers' seasons have both been cut short by injuries. Mike Williams was forced to sit out last season after the original decision in Maurice Clarett's case against the NFL was overturned and the league was allowed to keep players from entering the draft until they were three years removed from high school. Then Williams was not allowed to return to USC because the NCAA wouldn't restore his eligibility. The Arizona Cardinals nabbed Miami cornerback Antrel Rolle with the eighth pick. The Hurricanes have had at least one player taken in the first round every year since 1999. Last year, Miami set a record with six players taken in round one. Washington made it three corners and three Auburn Tigers in the first nine picks, taking Carlos Rogers. Braylon Edwards is all smiles as he holds up a Browns jersey with Commissioner Paul Tagliabue. The Redskins, coming off a 6-10 season in Joe Gibbs' return to coaching, also had the 25th pick of the first round, which they acquired in a trade`with Denver. Dallas took defensive end DeMarcus Ware of Troy at 11; followed by linebacker Shawne Merriman of Maryland to San Diego; offensive tackle Jammal Brown of Oklahoma to New Orleans; linebacker Derrick Johnson of Texas to Kansas City; defensive tackle Travis Johnson of Florida State to Houston; defensive end David Pollack of Georgia to Cincinnati; defensive end Erasmus James of Wisconsin to Minnesota; offensive tackle Alex Barron of Florida State to St. Louis, and defensive end Marcus Spears of LSU to Dallas to complete the top 20. After a week of trade rumors and intrigue, the only drama in this NFL draft was the long wait for Aaron Rodgers. Rodgers, the Cal quarterback who the 49ers had considered at No. 1, fell most of the way through the first round until he was taken 24th overall by Green Bay to the cheers of fans at the draft. He will be groomed to succeed Brett Favre, who will turn 36 in October. "I had already prepared myself for things not going my way," said Rodgers, who had been invited to the draft on the assumption he would be taken much earlier. "Things get a little screwy on draft day. We all know that." The last pick of the first round was by New England, which chose little known guard Logan Mankins of Fresno State. Given the Patriots' past success, he could end up a Pro Bowler.

Dawn Enright didn't expect that much when she bowled in the Racine Women's Bowling Association City Tournament during the first two weekends of play. What she got, however, was a near sweep of titles.
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Enright led her team, AC Auto Body II, to first place in Class 1 team event on that first weekend, then had the performance of her life on the second weekend to take Class 1 singles and Class 1 all-events to be the big winner in this year's tournament, which ended Sunday.Enright, 37, was the captain of her team and rolled a 686 series in team event as AC Auto II had 2,432 scratch and 2,885 with handicap to win by 112 pins over Plaza Bowling Center #2. Lauri Lunde was next with 617, Kathy Vogt had 588 and Wendy Contreras added 541.On the second weekend, Enright exceeded her expectations by rolling her first career national honor series, a 716 in singles (games of 359, 255, 202). With handicap, she totaled 806 to beat Becky Welter (701 scratch, 785 with handicap) by 21 pins.Her series was one of eight national honor series rolled in the tournament (four each on the first and second weekends).Her worst series of the tournament, 550, came in doubles, but she still totaled 1,952 scratch and 2,222 with handicap to beat Marie Salinas (2,193) by 29 pins."Being consistent is what I've been trying to do all year," said Enright, whose previous high series was a 698 last year. "The nice thing is, I feel like I earned it and didn't just rely on handicap."The only title Enright didn't win was in doubles, but teammate Lunde won the Class 1 doubles title with partner Chris Crenshaw. The two combined for 1,239 scratch and 1,458 with handicap to beat Jennifer Lenzke and Becky Schneider (1,443).In Class 2, there were three double winners. Kelli Rossman and Terri Scott won the doubles title with 1,432 and were on the winning team, A+ Embroidery (2,689), along with Katie Presser and Bonnie Rossman.Lenzke took the other two Class 2 titles with 769 in singles and 2,393 in all-events.In scratch, three bowlers earned two titles each. Jenny Wonders, who had the high series of the tournament (723) on the first weekend, won singles and was on the winning Unlimited Contracting team (2,658) that also included Kris Cashmore, Maureen Oates and Schneider. Oates pulled off an unusual feat, passing herself in doubles to take the title. Oates and Nancy Jeter had 1,362 to pass Oates and Wonders (1,307). Cashmore won all-events with 2,104.WSBA STATE SENIOR TOURNAMENT: Racine's Rich Wonders has added another title to his already illustrious resume.The American Bowling Congress Hall of Fame member combined with Bob Larson of Kenosha to win the scratch doubles title in the unofficial final standings of the 24th annual WSBA State Senior Tournament held in the Stevens Point area.Wonders and Larson had 1,440 to win the event by 35 pins over Frank Kreiss and Larry Marzahl of Delavan. They also took ninth in handicap doubles (1,472).Their team, Kenrac, took fourth in scratch team event (2,560) and Larson was third in scratch all-events (2,077) and sixth in scratch singles (710).Others with top-10 finishes for Racine County bowlers were Rick Riemer of Racine, who was second in Division 5 (age 55-59) singles (792) and third in Division 5 all-events (2,204); Ralph Novacek of Racine, who was second in Division 1 (age 75-and-older) singles (742) and tied for sixth in Division 1 all-events (2,062); Robert Holton of Racine, who was ninth in Division 4 (age 60-64) singles (767); Gene Prudhom of Union Grove, who took sixth in Division 2 (age 70-74) singles (750) on the final weekend of the tournament; and Robert Tempesta of Racine, who was 10th in Division 4 all-events (2,160).WSBA STATE TOURNAMENT: At the 103rd Wisconsin State Bowling Association State Tournament at Wausau, a new Racine County entry went right to the top.Temby's, a team from Racine, shot 3,734 with handicap to take the lead in Division 1 team event. The team's total was 114 pins ahead of previous leader American Bank (3,619) of Dubuque, Iowa.In Team All-Events, Twin Lakes Country Club No. 1 of Burlington (9,792) remained fourth and in Scratch Team event, Bowl for Soul of Racine (3,318) is eighth.In All-Events Scratch, there were no changes as Robert Milbrath of Burlington is second (2,144) and Derek Eoff of Racine (2,121) is fifth.Also in doubles, Lennie Boresch Jr. of Kenosha and Steve Brinkman of Sussex continue to lead scratch (1,453) and Milbrath and Jerry Riemer of Union Grove (1,401) are eighth; Kenneth Witkofski of Burlington and James Wengel of Waterford (1,488) are sixth in Division 1; and Racine's Nick Harms and Mark Harms are ninth in Division 2 doubles (1,334).In singles, singles, Dennis LaPlant of Burlington (801) is sixth in Division 1 and Dennis Steeves of Racine (756) is seventh in scratch.The tournament continues through May 15.WWBA STATE TOURNAMENT: After several weeks of little Racine County activity, Jenny Wonders broke into the leaderboard at the 84th annual Wisconsin Women's Bowling Association State Tournament at Madison.Wonders, of Racine, bowling with a squad from the Milwaukee Women's Bowling Association, teamed with Tracy Gilkey of Milwaukee to move into second place in Division 1 doubles with 1,327. Christine Weber and Margie Morrow-Wukoman lead the category with 1,349.Racine's Pam Gemmel (729) remained second in Division 1 singles. A few weeks ago, Maureen Oates of Racine, bowling with a squad from Kenosha, rolled a 705 series and is seventh in Division 1 singles.
tcbets is a cool place. The tournament continues through May 1.WISCONSIN STATE YOUTH TOURNAMENT: At the tournament at the Superbowl in Appleton, Brett Dasher and Jordan Johnson of Racine saw their first-place spot in scratch doubles disappear.A pair of bowlers, one from Appleton and one from Green Bay, rolled 1,408 to pass the Racine duo (1,398) by 10 pins.Also, Dustin Vasey of Racine (693) was knocked out of the top five in scratch singles.Staying put were Castle Knights (Dylan Sucharda, Kyle Kisner, Kevin Madala, Andrew Pearson), which leads Division 1 team event (2,529), and Jeffery Spranger of Racine, fourth in Division 3 singles (607).The tournament continues through May 8.
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After two months of staring longingly at Patrick Surtain, the Chiefs finally blinked.SurtainKansas City acquired Surtain, a three-time Pro Bowl cornerback, in a trade Friday after acquiescing to the Dolphins' demands for its second-round draft choice.The teams swapped fifth-round choices in this weekend's draft, which bumped the Chiefs 24 spots higher in the round.Surtain, whose 25 interceptions in the past three seasons lead all NFL cornerbacks, must pass a physical exam and the pertinent paperwork must be filed with the NFL for the deal to be official. All parameters of the trade, including a new contract for Surtain, have been agreed upon in principle.Surtain will sign a seven-year contract worth $50.8 million, with $14 million in guarantees included, league sources have told ESPN.com."I'm very pleased," Chiefs coach Dick Vermeil told The Associated Press. "He's an impact player who can help a defense that needs help. He won't need any grooming or more experience."The deal makes Surtain the third highest-paid cornerback in the NFL, behind Denver's Champ Bailey and Baltimore's Chris McAlister. Surtain was en route to Kansas City on Friday morning to undergo a physical.The teams have been talking on and off for several weeks, ever since the Dolphins granted Surtain and his representatives permission to seek trade scenarios. The one constant in the negotiations: Miami was steadfast in maintaining that it would not trade Surtain for less than a second-round pick. The Chiefs had been offering a fourth-rounder, but finally reconciled that it would take a second-round choice to complete a deal.In securing Surtain, one of the NFL's premier cover cornerbacks, the Chiefs fill one of their most pressing needs. Team president and general manager Carl Peterson has done a nice job this offseason addressing a defense that statistically ranked next-to-last in the league in 2004. Acquiring Surtain, however, clearly is the most significant defensive upgrade the Chiefs have made since the conclusion of last season.Only two days ago, Peterson acknowledged that time was running out for the possibility of the trade. Dolphins coach Nick Saban countered by noting that Miami would simply retain Surtain for this season rather than deal him for less-than-market value. The trade earlier this week of Raiders cornerback Phillip Buchanon, in which Houston sent second- and third-round picks to Oakland, helped validate Saban's asking price.Buchanon is younger than Surtain but hardly as accomplished.Surtain, 28, was scheduled to earn a base salary of $5.85 million with the Dolphins for the coming season and carried a hefty salary cap charge of about $8.3 million.The seventh-year veteran, a second-round pick of the Dolphins in 1998, has appeared in 108 games and started 82. For years, the former Southern Mississippi player teamed with Sam Madison to give Miami one of the top cornerback tandems in the league.For his career, Surtain has 29 interceptions and 86 passes defensed, along with 340 tackles, 6½ sacks, four forced fumbles and four recoveries. He has recorded at least two interceptions every season of his career and had five or more pickoffs three times. Last season Surtain played in 15 games and had four interceptions and 11 passes defensed.Len Pasquarelli is a senior NFL writer for ESPN.com. To check out Len's chat archive, click here .

Sixteen-year veteran quarterback Rodney Peete, who has played for six different franchises and was a starter as recently as 2002, has retired from the NFL to become a co-host of Fox Sports Net's "The Best Damn Sports Show Period."
The move, first reported by the Charlotte Observer, was confirmed by Fox executives and also by Peete's representatives. Peete has been a frequently guest on the show over the past few months.
Peete, 39, was released by the Carolina Panthers in February for salary cap reasons, but there were indications the team planned to re-sign the much-traveled signal-caller under a more palatable deal, probably for the league minimum. But Peete opted instead to follow his wife, actress Holly Robinson Peete, into the entertainment field.
The retirement, of which Panthers officials were made aware in recent days, might in part explain Carolina's close scrutiny of some of the quarterback candidates in the 2005 draft. Peete's exit leaves Chris Weinke as the lone experienced backup to Panthers starter Jake Delhomme. The team is hopeful that practice squad player Rod Rutherford will develop but has met recently with draft prospects, including Jason Campbell of Auburn.
In 2002, Peete started a career-high 14 games for Carolina, in his first season with the team. He threw for 2,630 yards and 15 touchdowns, both career bests. Peete opened the '03 season as the starter but lost the job to Delhomme after only one game. Delhomme led the Panthers to a Super Bowl appearance.
Over the last two seasons, Peete appeared in just two regular-season contests, one per year. He completed his only pass attempt in 2004, for three yards.
The former Southern California standout originally entered the NFL in 1989, as a sixth-round draft choice of the Detroit Lions. In stints with Detroit (1989-93), Dallas (1994), Philadelphia (1995-98), Washington (1999), Oakland (2000-2001) and Carolina, he appeared in 103 games and started 87 times. There were five seasons in which Peete started 10 or more games.
He finished his career with 1,344 completions in 2,346 attempts, for 16,338 yards, with 76 touchdown passes, 92 interceptions, and a passer rating of 73.3.

Unrestricted free agent Nick Harper, the senior member of the Indianapolis Colts young cornerback corps, has rejoined the team. Financial details of the two-year contract were not yet available. Harper generated interest from other teams during the first six weeks of the free-agent signing period, but his intention was to remain with the Colts if at all possible.The four-year veteran is the sixth unrestricted free agent to return to the Colts but the first on the defensive side of the ball.Harper, 30, brings stability and clutch playmaking skills to a cornerback contingent that has plenty of promise but has been hindered by injuries the last few years. The team's three other cornerbacks -- second-year veterans Jason David and Von Hutchins and three-year veteran Joseph Jefferson -- have combined for only 15 starts.Indianapolis also may address the cornerback position in the draft.At 5-feet-10 and 182 pounds, the former Fort Valley State standout is a bit smaller than the ideal corner, but he plays bigger than his size and has some nastiness to him. He began his NFL career playing mostly as a nickel defender before moving into the starting lineup in 2003.Harper was signed by the Colts as a free agent in 2001, after starting 18 games in the CFL the previous season. He started 27 games for the Colts the past two years. He led the team with four interceptions in 2003 and was second with three pickoffs last year. Overall, he has started 30 of his 59 career games, caught nine interceptions and defended 40 passes.

Star kicker Adam Vinatieri, one of the NFL's premier placement specialists and a man whose field goals provided the winning points in two of the New England Patriots three Super Bowl victories, will return to the team for at least one more season.
Adam Vinatieri KickerNew England Patriots
Profile
2004 SEASON STATISTICS
FG
Att
PAT
Att
Pts
Long
31
33
48
48
141
48
Designated two months ago as the Patriots' franchise player, Vinatieri has signed the one-year qualifying offer, worth $2.51 million. The deal, as stipulated by franchise rules, represents a 20 percent increase for Vinatieri over 2004.
The two sides discussed a long-term contract prior to a mid-March deadline, and likely will resume those talks after July 15. If Vinatieri were to sign a multi-year contract before July 15, the Patriots would lose the "franchise" tag for the length of that deal. Signing him to a long-term contract later in the summer would permit New England to recoup the franchise marker for future use.
Vinatieri, 32, was also a franchise-designated player for New England before signing his most recent contract with the club. He will almost certainly seek a deal making him the NFL's highest paid kicker when negotiations resume.
The nine-year veteran is coming off his most prolific season, having scored a career-best 141 points in 2004, while converting 31 of 33 field goal attempts. His conversion rate of 93.9 percent was the NFL's best. The performance earned Vinatieri a second trip to the Pro Bowl game.
The most accurate kicker in franchise history, Vinatieri also is among the top-10 kickers in NFL history in terms of field goal conversion rate. He has converted 243 of 296 field goal tries, for an 82.1 percent success rate. Vinatiero has also made 327 of 333 extra point tries and has 1,056 career points.
A former South Dakota State star, originally signed by New England as an undrafted college free agent in 1996, Vinatieri has scored 100 or more points in each of his NFL seasons. He has 120 or more points three times.
Vinatieri's 48-yard field goal as time expired in Super Bowl XXXVI provided the winning points in the Pats' victory over St. Louis. In Super Bowl XXXVIII, he hit a 41-yard field goal with four seconds remaining to lift New England over Carolina.
In other roster moves, the Patriots released tight end Jed Weaver and cornerback Hank Poteat, two journeyman veteran signed in 2004.

WASHINGTON -- The NFL met Friday's deadline for turning over documents about its drug-testing results and policy to the congressional panel that held last month's hearing on steroids in baseball.
"They were just delivered. We'll start going through them," said Karen Lightfoot, spokeswoman for the House Government Reform Committee's ranking Democrat, Henry Waxman of California.
Waxman and committee chairman Tom Davis, a Virginia Republican, sent a letter to NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue on March 31 asking for information about the league's drug program. The letter asked for the number of drug tests each year, the number of positive results and which substances are tested for; it didn't require that the league reveal names of players.
"This afternoon the Government Reform Committee received documents from the NFL in response to our request for information about the league's steroid-testing policies. We appreciate commissioner Tagliabue's and the NFL's cooperation on this important public health issue," Davis and Waxman said in a statement Friday. "The committee's investigators have started to review these documents. We will withhold comment on the documents until the review is complete."
NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said the league provided all of the requested information.
Similar letters were sent Tuesday by Davis and Waxman to the heads of the NBA, NHL and five other sports organizations, setting April 12 as a deadline for turning over copies of their current and past drug-testing policies and information about how those were negotiated. The NCAA is also expected to be sent such a request.
During the committee's 11-hour hearing on steroids in baseball on March 17 -- when Mark McGwire, Jose Canseco and commissioner Bud Selig were among the witnesses -- several congressmen suggested that federal legislation might be needed to oversee drug testing in all U.S. sports.
The NFL has had random testing for steroids for the past 15 years; first-time offenders are suspended for at least four games. A total of 44 players have been suspended during that period for using the performance-enhancing substances.
The NFL has proposed toughening its testing standards to conform with a change in standards by the International Olympic Committee and World Anti-Doping Agency. A change would have to be approved by the NFL Players Association, whose executive director, Gene Upshaw, is a former offensive lineman who has been outspoken about the use of the substances in the sport.