With the #1 pick Miami takes

[Reel Cowboy]

Jake Long

The Miami Dolphins have signed Michigan offensive tackle Jake Long to a multiyear contract and will select him with the No. 1 overall pick in Saturday's draft.

The contract is for five years and $57.75 million, with $30 million guaranteed.

The Dolphins were interested in trading the top pick, but no suitors surfaced -- so they decided to sign Long and avoid a possible holdout. Last year's top pick, JaMarcus Russell, missed all of training camp before signing a $61 million contract with the Oakland Raiders.

Despite speculation that Dolphins vice president of football operations Bill Parcells really had planned to select Ohio State defensive end Vernon Gholston or Virginia defensive end Chris Long, sources told ESPN's Michael Smith that since the Dolphins opened negotiations with Jake Long they were talking to him exclusively.

Long, a 6-foot-7, 313-pound senior who moved to left tackle in 2006 and started his final 26 games, was an All-America selection and Big Ten lineman of the year in each of his past two seasons.


Hashmarks

The intrigue for the No. 1 selection is gone now but there is plenty of it left for the high picks that follow, Mike Sando writes. Hashmarks
• Sando: Long to start at left tackle

The new Miami regime led by Parcells began negotiations last week with Long's agent, Tom Condon. Offensive line is considered the biggest need for the Dolphins, who went 1-15 last year, and new Miami coach Tony Sparano coached the offensive line with the Dallas Cowboys.

Miami made Long the first offensive lineman taken No. 1 in more than a decade and the fifth in league history. The St. Louis Rams took Ohio State tackle Orlando Pace first overall in 1997.

"We had him at the top of our board for a long time," Miami general manager Jeff Ireland said at a news conference in Davie, Fla.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

[dolphinatic]

We've got to start somewhere so why not on the OL. We can only go up from 1-15

GO PHINS!!!!!

[Tom Keels]

We've got to start somewhere so why not on the OL. We can only go up from 1-15

GO PHINS!!!!!

There's still a little room to go down.

[dolphinatic]

true....but we dont want that record no more than we wanted the Pats to get theirs going the other way. I still get a giddy feeling everytime I think about the Superbowl and those people in other countries wearing their 19-0 gear cause it was worthless here .......and we get their 1st round pick since we gave away Welker