04/22 — First the draft was repackaged into 10-minute first rounds and two rounds the first day. Now this afternoon comes the report that Miami has agreed to terms on a five-year deal with Michigan tackle Jake Long to be the first pick of the 2008 NFL Draft.

What is the world coming to?

Not to worry, ESPN and NFL Network, there will still be plenty of drama in Saturday's Round 1. But this draft has taken on a different feel now that the Dolphins may have set a record by nailing down the top pick of the draft more than four days before they officially go on the clock. NFL.com is reporting that the Dolphins have scheduled a news conference for 1:45 p.m.

There was some intrigue early on in this process that the now Bill Parcells-led 'Fins might go shopping for an agreeable player and agent who would strike a predraft deal, and along those lines there were some rumors the 'Fish could have moved on to Vernon Gholston.

But those talks between Long agent Tom Condon and the new Parcells/Jeff Ireland negotiating team began to heat up Monday morning. And so, once the league approves the deal and the status switches from "agreed to terms" to "signed, sealed and delivered," the Rams at No. 2 will be on the clock. And the camp of Virginia DE Chris Long are thought to be singing "Meet Me in St. Louis, Louis."

If that's the Long and short of the top of this draft, Mel Kiper, then ESPN's draft guru, (along with a few other experts) is on the record having called it.

Kiper's mock draft on the crawl beneath the all-sports network's telecast of the Mets-Cubs game Monday night read like this: 1. MIA — Jake Long. 2. STL — Chris Long. 3. ATL — DT Glenn Dorsey. 4. OAK — RB Darren McFadden. 5. KC — G/T Branden Albert. 6. NYJ — DE/OLB Vernon Gholston.

The only wild card here is the Chiefs' pick of Albert, Virginia's swing O-lineman and C.Long's Cavaliers teammate, who has moved up on many boards past Boise State T Ryan Clady as the No. 2 tackle behind Jake Long in the draft. But if the Herms trade DE Jared Allen to the Vikings as is being reported, do they then jump into the Gholston market ahead of the Jets? (If, indeed, the Green & White are in the Gholston market.)

And who's to say what the Raiders will do? The only thing certain seems to be that a year after last year's long, drawn-out process to sign JaMarcus Russell, the Silver and Black aren't in the Matt Ryan market.

In any event, the Dolphins news conference is about to start.

Tuna Trivia Note

Jake Long is only the second offensive lineman taken with the top pick of the draft since 1970. Orlando Pace of Ohio State was the other, in 1997, and that was also made possible by Parcells, who was then in control of the Jets' football ops and traded that first pick to the Rams en route to dropping to No. 8 overall, where the Tuna tabbed LB James Farrior.