FanHouse

I know that jockeying for position, strategery, deception, and manipulation are all par for the course in the NFL draft. So it's not exactly a head-turner when one team jumps ahead of another for a player they're both interested in. Three players, however, is a tad more interesting.

The Saints and Bengals both came into the draft with comparable needs, and the two coaching staffs have some sort of friendly bond, pairing together last summer for a couple of training camp scrimmages. But yesterday played out like a consistent bit of dueling, and the Saints won all three times.

The obvious battle was the one for Sedrick Ellis. It was no secret that both teams were gunning for Ellis, and the Saints beat the Bengals to him. The Saints then traded to move up two spots in the fifth and drafted defensive tackle DeMario Pressley right in front of the Bengals, forcing them to draft fellow tackle Jason Shirley, he of alcoholic infamy. Obviously the Bengals got flustered by the Saints thievery and took Shirley because he was the right position, if not the right personality. Finally, the Saints identified a player in the seventh who wouldn't reach them in free agency and traded a '09 pick to grab receiver Adrian Arrington. The next receiver taken? Mario Urrutia from Louisville, just seven picks later by -- you guessed it -- the Bengals.

It just seems a little too coincidental, doesn't it?