New Orleans Saints Forums - blackandgold.com - Defensive line: Mario Williams might be the best anywhere in

This is a good draft, maybe better than good. It has star power in Reggie Bush, two Heisman Trophy winners in Bush and Matt Leinart, a national champion quarterback in Vince Young, a 250-pound tight end in Vernon Davis who runs faster than the wide receivers, a can't-miss linebacker in A.J. Hawk and all kinds of intrigue surrounding who goes where in the first five picks.

It also has Mario Williams.

Obscured amid the rest of the hoopla, Williams very well could be the best player of all. If the 6-foot-7-inch, 295-pound defensive end from North Carolina State plays as well as he did last season and as well as he projects in his workouts, he could be the draft's biggest difference-maker because, as Brett Favre will attest in Green Bay, great defensive ends can be more valuable than running backs or even quarterbacks.

The Packers haven't been the same since Reggie White left town. For a while, they thought they might have a chance for Williams with their fifth pick on April 29. Then word got out.

If the Houston Texans select Williams instead of Bush, no football expert could fault them.

If the New Orleans Saints pass on Williams, it's because they're the New Orleans Saints.

If the Tennessee Titans select a needed quarterback instead of Williams, it's out of desperation.

If the New York Jets take either a quarterback or running back ahead of Williams, they are short-sighted.

Like Bush, Young and Davis, Williams is a junior who has turned this draft class into a potential bonanza.

Haloti Ngata, Oregon's 6-foot-4-inch, 340-pound nose tackle, is another junior near the top of the defensive line crop. So is Williams' teammate, John McCargo.

One senior, Florida State's Brodrick Bunkley, also is projected as a high defensive line pick. Penn State's Tamba Hali looks like a high second-rounder and is a great story because he's trying to get his mother out of war-torn Liberia.

Williams is at the top of the list because he never missed a game, had 14.5 sacks last season, benched-pressed 225 pounds 35 times at the combine, had a vertical leap of 40 inches and ran his 40-yard dash in the low 4.7s. These numbers put him ahead of Carolina Panthers defensive end Julius Peppers, a former North Carolina basketball player heretofore considered the NFL's reigning genetic wonder at his position.

"God didn't make too many guys like that," Titans defensive line coach Jim Washburn said about Williams.

Better yet, Williams sounds humble. Asked what he thought of the Peppers comparisons, Williams said: "It's actually an honor. He's a great player. Just to be compared to somebody like that I take that very highly. I'm thankful."

Williams didn't grow up wanting to be a defensive lineman. He just grew up.

"I wanted to play running back, but I guess I was a little too big for that," he said. "At the end of my senior year of high school, they put me at running back and I was lighting it up. Big guys always want to touch the ball and run around. I had a chance to do that and it was a great feeling and something I really enjoyed."

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Although the Bears could promise him an occasional carry in honor of William "Refrigerator" Perry, they have no chance to draft him, nor do they need much help on the defensive line with general manager Jerry Angelo saying the injured Tank Johnson will be back during training camp. They drafted Ian Scott and Alex Brown in fourth rounds, so Angelo is confident in his ability to find defensive linemen even though former first-rounder Michael Haynes doesn't appear to fit in coach Lovie Smith's system.

Of Williams, Angelo says: "The guy's a freak. What makes him so exceptional is his size. Where have you seen a guy with his size? You might see an athlete like this at 260-265. (When the Dolphins') Jason Taylor came out, he was 240. This guy is 295."

Angelo said he doesn't know who he might take if he had his pick of the litter, citing Bush, Young, Hawk, Davis, Texas safety Michael Huff, Virginia offensive tackle D'Brickashaw Ferguson and Williams all as special.

"You can't go wrong," Angelo said. "That A.J. Hawk does some special things. You look at Bush in terms of his playmaking ability. I always covet defensive linemen, so I probably always will go with the defensive linemen first. You can't go wrong with them, although there is no such thing as a no-brainer coming into the league as a pass rusher. It's easier to project what Bush is going to be, what Hawk is going to be, what Huff is going to be than it is with Mario Williams even though Mario Williams has some exceptional traits for the position."

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