A record-tying six pass-catchers went off the board in the opening stanza Saturday, including four among the top 16 selections.

Justin Smith is part of the first-round feast NFL teams had on defensive linemen.(AP)

But even as teams league-wide were scrambling to add vertical playmakers to their offenses, it was difficult to ignore the dizzying pursuit of front four defensive prospects capable of knocking quarterbacks and ballcarriers into painful horizontal contortions.

No matter what trend du jour surfaces in the draft, this first round reinforced one of the realities of every spring's lottery: If there is a defensive lineman available who rates high on your board, never pass him by.

"Especially in this draft, there are a ton of wide receivers, and you can get one who will help you at virtually every spot," said St. Louis Rams general manager Charley Armey. "Wide receiver is kind of a 'beauty in the eye of the beholder' sort of position, you know? But when it comes down to defensive linemen, well, those guys are almost impossible to find. When there's one there, you better get him, because they don't last long."

That was certainly the case Saturday, as the alleged depth at defensive tackle dissipated quickly, and the pure pass rushers went off the board before some observers had settled into their seats in front of the big-screen television. By the conclusion of the first round, it turned out there were as many defensive tackles as wide receivers off the board. In all, nine defensive linemen were gone.

All four of the premier tackle prospects -- Gerard Warren, Richard Seymour, Marcus Stroud and Damione Lewis -- were gone by the 13th overall choice. Ends Justin Smith, Jamal Reynolds and Andre Carter were all top 10 selections.

The final count on the first round was 16 defensive players and 15 offensive prospects. But even with that close count, defensive linemen ruled early.

It didn't take long to initiate the defensive line stampede, with the Cleveland Browns selecting Warren with the third pick, after suggesting for more than a week that Michigan wide receiver David Terrell was their man. At one point in the top 10 of the first round, four of the five picks were defensive linemen.

"Hey, rightly so, man," said Warren, a player often compared to Tampa Bay star Warren Sapp. "It all starts up front. If you're strong in your front four, well, you are strong period."

This is a copycat league. And with the Baltimore Ravens having claimed a Super Bowl championship last year with a pair of behemoth defensive tackles, everyone wanted their own version of Tony Siragusa or Sam Adams. And even as the game has moved from the outside in, pass-rush ends will always be in vogue.

On the eve of the draft, Rams coach Mike Martz stopped just short of guaranteeing at least one of those top three pass rushers would be available for St. Louis with the 12th overall choice. It didn't turn out that way, however, and Martz acknowledged he should have known better, particularly with the emphasis on getting to the quarterback.

"To get a defensive lineman, a really good prospect, it's like finding the needle in the haystack," said Green Bay Packers general manager Ron Wolf, whose team plucked Reynolds with the 10th overall choice. "A couple of guys even got pushed up a little, as they characteristically do, in the first round. But once those top guys are gone, you have to take some chances, especially if there is a guy you believe in some."

Indeed, the Pittsburgh Steelers jumped on another tackle, Casey Hampton, a squat interior defender who should fit well into the team's 3-4 scheme. And in what certainly rated as the most controversial "reach" in the round, the draft pick-rich Rams dipped down for tackle Ryan Pickett, a tackle most scouts assessed as a second-round choice at best.

Then again, St. Louis went into the day with zero starting defensive tackles for its new, upfield scheme, a one-gap design reliant on generating inside pressure. Flush with three first-round choices, St. Louis used two of the picks on defensive tackles, and 12th choice overall Lewis is projected as an immediate starter.

In taking Pickett, the Rams selected him over another front four player, end Aaron Schobel, and the debate over the two prospects came even as the top two tight end prospects still remained on the board as a temptation for offensive tinkerer Martz.

The lightning-quick run on defensive linemen, while surprising to many observers, really wasn't considered unusual to the personnel directors manning "war rooms" around the league. Because the supply rarely corresponds to the demand for front four players, more gambles are taken at the position than at any other. But this was acknowledged months ago as a draft deep with defensive tackles, and it lived up to its billing, although the inventory didn't last quite long enough.

Said rookie coach Butch Davis of the Cleveland Browns: "I guess we could have waited until the second round to get (a tackle), but you're scared to death the well will go dry on you."

As anticipated, the wide receiver class hardly tapped out in the first round. Although the first of the pass-catchers didn't go off the board until the No. 8 choice overall, when the Chicago Bears stopped Terrell's nervous pace in the "green room" at Madison Square Garden draft headquarters, offenses starved for deep threats were sated by a stellar crop.

The New York Jets, in the first draft for rookie head coach Herman Edwards, even leap-frogged three spots in the first round to assure they got do-it-all wideout Santana Moss of Miami.

While the draft was rich with pass-catchers, there was once again a dearth of passers, with just one quarterback selected in the first round for the second consecutive year. The final body count distribution in an unusually expeditious first round that was completed in just four hours, 18 minutes: one quarterback, six wide receivers, one tight end, four offensive linemen, three tailbacks, three defensive ends, six defensive tackles, one linebacker, four cornerbacks and two safeties.