INDIANAPOLIS -- The way Tom Donahoe looks at it, the Buffalo Bills got their first-round draft pick a year early.

The Bills sent their first selection in this year's draft to New England last April to get quarterback Drew Bledsoe. Now, their focus is on the remaining rounds.

"We probably put as much time and effort into the seventh-round players as we have in the first- and second-round players. That's just our philosophy on the draft," Donahoe said Thursday at the NFL scouting combine.

"A lot of times, people think after the first-round selection, the draft is over. But we've always felt it's just beginning," he said. "There's always good bargains in the later rounds.

	Bledsoe

"When we get into this draft and put Drew Bledsoe's name up there as our first-round choice, we'll be very happy with that."

The other two teams without first-round picks are Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay, which sent the selection to Oakland in compensation for the right to sign coach Jon Gruden; and Miami, as part of the trade with New Orleans for RB Ricky Williams.

That gives the Patriots, Saints and Raiders two picks each in the opening round.

Second-generation
Dan Klecko is tired of the comparisons with his father, Joe Klecko. It's only natural.

"I've had to deal with it. I went to the same college, wore the same number," he said Thursday. "At first it did bother me, but now, what are you going to do? There's nothing I can do about it, so why worry."

Klecko, a second-team All-American defensive lineman at Temple and the Big East defensive player of the year, is the son of the former New York Jets' Pro Bowl defensive end.

"For a player like me … this is a chance to show my skills to all 32 teams," said Klecko, who is 6-1, 276 pounds.

He said he doesn't remember watching his father play, but he picked up a lot of pointers in post-game critiques in the parking lot throughout his college career.

"I never got a perfect grade from him, let's put it that way," he said.

New coach
Steve Mariucci is hardly a new coach. Yet in some ways, especially approaching the draft in April, he's got those rookie jitters.

Evaluating the talent at the NFL scouting combine is only one of the difficult jobs he has as he begins his job as coach of the Detroit Lions.

"Because I don't know this team as well as I need to. I'll get to know it in time," said Mariucci, who was hired two weeks ago, less than three weeks after he was fired by San Francisco.

"We had a thorough personnel meeting and discussed each player at length, from his abilities to his health to his contract to all the things that are pertinent. So I got a pretty good feel for this team and what our needs are.

"Now we've just got to figure out how to fill them. We're not going to be able to fill them all in one year," he said.

The Lions, 3-13 last season, have the second pick in the April 26-27 draft.

"Going from poor to good and going from good to poor happen quicker now than before because of the cap, because of the way we have structured our free agency," Mariucci said. "You can lose a good nucleus of your leaders over the course of a year or two. You can go from a playoff team to a team with a losing record real quick."

Show and tell
It's a good thing Andrew Pinnock was paying attention.

Admittedly nervous through his early interviews at the NFL scouting combine, the former South Carolina running back was quickly put to the test on Thursday.

"A running back coach came in, went over the offense, went over the formations, and gave me the pen and told me to go up to the board and write the formations he just said," the 250-pound Pinnock said.

"You just deal with it. You're nervous, but at the same time you're excited," he said. "You're enjoying every minute of it because it's an experience you'll always remember."

Running back LaBrandon Toefield of LSU, one of 45 underclassmen who entered the draft, also felt the jitters.

"There's a lot of stuff in it, but it's a great experience. You just try to go out and be patient and not worry about the results, just do the best you can," Toefield said.

He said it's difficult to deal with the hype surrounding the draft.

"It's something I know a lot of guys think about every day. One of the things that makes it so difficult here is who's looking at you, who's thinking about taking you. It's so hard to just go out and do the best you can and not worry about it."

On the mend
Titans defensive end Jevon Kearse is expected to be ready to go by training camp this summer, coach Jeff Fisher said.

Kearse broke a bone in his left foot in the season opener last year. He returned for the final three games but was hampered by pain in the foot. He underwent surgery last week.

"We took the screw out and did a bone graft and put the screw back in. We expect him to be at full speed in training camp," Fisher said. "There's a lengthy recovery period now. He's going to be in a cast and immobilized six to eight weeks and then begin his rehab. So he should be fine."