This past Saturday morning, I awoke as if it was Christmas morning, and despite the fact that I had been up painting my boys room until almost 4 a.m., it didn't bother me at all. Saturday was NFL draft day, and I was all set to watch with my notes and draft predictions, which were etched into my mental sports file.

Then at breakfast a monkey wrench was thrown into my day as my girlfriend mentioned to me that the Houston Texans picked Mario Williams as their number one pick. I looked up at the clock and saw it was only 11 a.m. and the draft didn't start until noon.

So I corrected her and told her that the draft didn't start until noon. She then informed me that was what was on the internet. So I decided to take a gander and was surprised to see that what she had mentioned was true.

The Texans had stuck a deal with defensive end Mario Williams out of North Carolina worth $54 million over 6 years. A contract I hope is incentive laden since this kid has yet to prove himself in the NFL trenches.

I now drooled in anticipation for the draft to begin, as waves of excitement sent a shiver up my spine as said to my girlfriend.

"Do you know what this means? This changes the whole draft! This is going to mess up everyone's draft predictions!," everyone was saying.

The Texans's drafting of Williams to bolster their defense gives them another dimension, and gives the team that much more identity. Quarterback David Carr took 68 sacks for over 424 yards last year, and running back Domanick Davis fell just shy of 1,000 yards finishing the year with 976. So, hopefully, the signing of two offensive tackles, OT Eric Winston and Charles Spencer, will help them out on offense. The Texans receiving game will get help from wide receiver Eric Moulds who was picked up during the FA signing melee.

The second biggest surprise of the draft was quarterback Matt Leinhart out of USC falling to the 10th pick. He was finally drafted by the Arizona Cardinals. This made for great television, Leinhart was visibly upset as he and his agent were probably mentally counting the millions of dollars he was losing as his draft stock dropped.

What hurt Leinhart? What was it that teams like the New York Jets (they're stacked at QB, but none equal the buzz of Matt), Green Bay Packers and Oakland Raiders decided to pass on him? For example, Packers have Brett Favre coming back for another season, but how much longer can they play this out with him every off season?

I would have liked seeing Leinhart learning under Favre, than Kurt Warner. During the press conference his ego was bruised and some of the comments he made showed flashes of the same "sore sport" mentality he showed after losing to Texas in the 2006 Rose Bowl. 

QB Vince Young went to the Tennessee Titans who are treating QB Steve McNair like an unwanted stepchild after all his years of service, and I have my own opinion on this matter. The NFL is not the NCAA, just ask Kordell Stewart, Donovan McNabb and Michael Vick. Linebackers and defensive ends are just too streamlined and much faster in the NFL, and are not going to allow a QB to run like he did last year in college. Eventually, Young is going to have to learn how to make decisions and pass from the pocket or the roll. If he can do that then he will succeed in the NFL.

Speaking of visibly upset people... it seemed running back Reggie Bush wasn't happy about where he was going after the New Orleans Saints drafted him at the number two spot. This is a good pick for them since they struggled at this spot, with RBs Antowain Smith and Aaron Stecker.

Another pick sticking out to me this weekend was QB Jay Cutler who went to the Denver Broncos after Leinhart was drafted by Arizona. I like Cutler. He impressed me during the combine, and my feeling is he will be one of the most successful players drafted out of this class.

Tight end Vernon Davis out of Maryland was drafted by the San Francisco 49'ers, and when he was chosen, he put forth a good amount of man tears. But, with all of the talking he has done, I hope he can produce for them or he maybe crying man tears yet again.

The most impressive draftee to me was strong safety Michael Huff out of Texas, who went to the Raiders to help boost their secondary, and they're going to need it after signing Duane Starks. This kid is six-feet tall and 203 pounds, and he might as well be a linebacker at that size.

Since his departure from New England, I have had curious thoughts about Eric Mangini and how he would perform with this draft. His selection of offensive tackle Ferguson D'Brickashaw and center Nick Mangold shows me they don't want to see the injury cart driving their QB's off the field again and drives down their MRI costs.

As for the New England Patriots, I had them selecting someone to replace the exit of outside linebacker Willie McGinest and wide receiver David Givens. The WR draft class was weak this year, and I didn't expect them to draft a running back in the first round. This year the Pats proved me wrong and selected one of the 10 offensive players drafted in the first round. RB Laurence Maroney out of Minnesota will shake up things come training camp. Another shake up will be the abundance of TEs after drafting two from the third (Dave Thomas out of Texas) and fourth round (Garrett Mills out of Tulsa). That will bring the total to four with Daniel Graham and Ben Watson.

The Pats also drafted kicker Stephen Gostkowsk from Memphis to compete with Martin Gramatica. If he works out, Gramatica will probably still be retained for his NFL experience. They also drafted two guards Ryan O'Callaghan from California and Dan Stevenson from Notre Dame to replace their off season losses.

The last three teams I had interest in were the Indianapolis Colts, Pittsburgh Steelers and Dallas Cowboys...

The Steelers had a textbook draft with few surprises. They drafted two receivers, Santonio Holmes (Ohio State) and Willie Reid (Florida State), free safety Anthony Smith (Syracuse), guard Willie Colon (Hofstra) and defensive tackle Orien Harris (Miami). Some wondered about them drafting QB Omar Jacobs (Bowling Green), but it's warranted after struggling last year with aging veterans Charlie Batch
and Tommy Maddox.

As for the Colts, who lost RB Edgerrin James to Arizona, they surprised no one and drafted RB Joseph Addai out of Louisiana State and upped their numbers on defense, drafting four players corner back Tim Jennings (Georgia), inside linebacker Freddie Keiaho (San Diego State), and safety Antoine Bethea (Howard).

In the NFC all eyes will be on the Dallas Cowboys who acquired WR Terrell Owens services, made WR Terry Glenn their number two opposite Owens, and they have budding stars with RB Julius Jones and TE Jason Whitten. With their selections, the Cowboys also added to their defense with outside linebacker Bobby Carpenter (Ohio State), and backed up Whitten with Anthony Fasano (Notre Dame).

Are we seeing a trend here? Both the Patriots and Cowboys selected players from Notre Dame... It must be nice to have that type of networking and imagine what it does for recruiting.

Overall, this year was the most entertaining draft I have ever watched, but for now the question is... what to do until June 1st...?