Forty-three choices into the 2003 draft, poised to make their initial selection after having dealt away a first-round pick as compensation for the restricted free agent signing of wide receiver Laveranues Coles, personnel officials from the Washington Redskins confronted a surprisingly vexing but nonetheless pleasant scenario.

Still on the board, as the Redskins had projected (and hoped) he would be, was Ohio State safety Mike Doss, a prospect Washington targeted in the weeks preceding the draft as a potential starter. But also available was Florida wide receiver Taylor Jacobs, a player on whom Washington had a first-round grade, one they might have considered with the 13th overall selection had they not shipped it to the New York Jets in the Coles signing.

While safety was more a priority for the Redskins than wide receiver, the decision was a no-brainer, particularly given the disparity in grades on the two players.

So the fluid Jacobs, who had been recruited by and played for Steve Spurrier with the Gators, became a Redskin and, having enjoyed an impressive minicamp last weekend, is the favorite to claim the No. 3 wideout position behind Coles and Rod Gardner. Safety became a spot unaddressed in the lottery, one where the starting job opposite free agent addition Matt Bowen will be determined in a camp competition among three contenders.

And personnel director Vinny Cerrato was reminded, for about the zillionth time in his career, that sometimes there simply isn't enough spackling putty to patch every hole. To paraphrase Mick Jagger, you can't always get everything you want.

"In our case, we really liked Doss, thought he was a guy who was all football player, you know?" Cerrato said. "But there was no way we could pass Jacobs, who we thought was a first-rounder, and who we were stunned kept falling our way. After we picked (Jacobs), we kept trying to get another choice so we could still take Doss, too, but it didn't happen. But we're comfortable we'll be OK at safety. The way the game is now, with the salary cap and stuff, you simply can't fill every need as quickly as you might like."

Because of cap constraints, and arguably the most shallow free agent talent pool since the current system was implemented, that is the case now more than ever.

As the league heads into its annual lull period, a brief stretch following minicamps and during which most coaching staffs concern themselves far more with putting strokes than personnel moves, plenty of franchises still have one or two areas of need that they were unable to address in the draft or free agency.

In many of those cases, given that there figure to be fewer veterans than usual available in the annual post-June 1 cap casualty period, the problems will not be solved. In others, as is the case with the Washington strong safety position, the answers will come from within the current roster. The starting Redskins strong safety, for instance, likely will come from a trio that includes Ifeanyi Ohalete, David Terrell and Andre Lott.

The good news for the Redskins is that Terrell started all 16 contests in each of the last two seasons, but at free safety, and Ohalete replaced Sam Shade at strong safety in 2002 and logged 10 starts. Lott played some cornerback in college and has "ball" skills. The bad but not tragic news: The team would still like to have had Doss -- who doesn't run very well, isn't very big, but still makes plays -- as part of the mix.

"But you can say that about almost every team," Cerrato noted. "Even after the draft, not everyone has filled every hole, that's for sure."

Indeed, there will still be some roster tinkering in June and July, as teams begin to gird for training camp and decide to patch some needs with veteran players who currently are still in the unemployment line. Here is a look at a few, but certainly not all, of the more significant team needs not yet addressed: