No one in NFL history has been more adroit at making draft choices multiply than Bill Walsh of the San Francisco 49ers.

Mike Holmgren has won a Super Bowl, but he still looks to Bill Walsh for guidance on draft day.(AP)

So when he called Seattle Seahawks football chieftain Mike Holmgren on Friday night, it wasn't as if Holmgren was going to ignore the call.

"Coach Walsh called and left me a message," Holmgren said. "He wanted me to think about something overnight."

Although they didn't actually speak until Saturday, the message was loud and clear enough for Holmgren that he pulled the ultimate Walsh with the help of the man who initially hired him as a quarterback coach with the Niners in 1986.

Early during Saturday's draft, Holmgren dealt the seventh pick overall and the 191st (sixth round) to Walsh and San Francisco in exchange for the ninth pick overall, a third-round pick (82nd overall) and a seventh-round pick.

The past six weeks have been wild for Holmgren and the Seahawks, beginning with the acquisition of quarterback Matt Hasselbeck from Green Bay. The Seahawks swapped first-round picks -- No. 10 for No. 17 -- with the Packers and gave Green Bay their third-round pick. In the process of adding defensive veterans John Randle, Chad Eaton, Levon Kirkland and Marcus Robertson, Holmgren opened fire again Saturday with the help of his old buddy.

As a result, Holmgren was able to add 6-foot-2, 210-pound wide receiver Koren Robinson from North Carolina State with the ninth pick overall and Michigan's All-America guard Steve Hutchinson with No. 17. Then Holmgren was able to shore up two other needs with cornerback Ken Lucas from Ole Miss in the second round.

"I'm not a big gambler when it comes to the draft," Holmgren said. "I hope to have solid drafts. They don't have to be spectacular for me. I want solid guys who can come in and play, and contribute as young players. That's how you build. I'm not going to jump out there. Is it a dead-bang sure thing? The draft is not that way. It's not, 'Are there certainties in this business?' No. We can all point to 'can't miss' guys that didn't make it for whatever reasons."

Nonetheless, he was thrilled with Robinson. Hutchinson -- clearly the best player on the board to replace starting guard Pete Kendall, who left via free agency -- was a shock. Adding Lucas proved to be just gravy.

"I think (Robinson) is a big-play receiver," Holmgren said. "He is just a pup when it comes to playing the position. He was a running back coming out of high school; one of the great running backs in the country. He has distinguished himself as a wide receiver, but still he is very much in his formative years."

There are other questions that go along with the enormous upside. His attitude and work ethic have been questioned. Despite a hamstring pull during the combine in Indianapolis that prevented him from getting timed in the 40, he held a workout two weeks ago and ran a 4.6. Holmgren said the video of his workout shows he was obviously hobbled, and Robinson said he has run a 4.33 to a 4.38.

"Yes, in a sense (I had something to prove)," Robinson said in a conference call, "because some of the people had negative perceptions about me. I went into interviews with all of the teams, and I was presentable, and I thought everything went well."

He has been compared to Randy Moss in some of the off-field questions and talent potential. Obviously, Holmgren felt great about him, or he would have stayed put at No. 7 and taken Michigan's David Terrell. A second issue concerning one of his eyes arose at the combine, but the Seahawks think they have addressed the issue.

"(His vision) is pretty consistent; it should not inhibit his playing," said Holmgren. "It has not up to this point. What could have been a concern early, I think we covered it.

"As far as a person goes, how he conducts himself, I think he's pretty normal," Holmgren said. "At least that's the feeling I got. I don't think school and going to class was real important to him. You see a lot of athletes, unfortunately -- and I'm not saying that's a good thing -- that put football ahead of the classroom. They shouldn't, but they do. I got the impression that football is very important to him. I like guys like that."

Hutchinson was an easy pick since he was at the top of the Seahawks' board, and Lucas is another exceptional athlete they figure will fit in. The bottom line is that Holmgren was well aware of the importance of this offseason, considering the Seahawks were 6-10 last season and will open in their new stadium in 2002.

It's fitting Holmgren was helped once again by Walsh, who is wrapping up his career as architect for the 49ers.

"I came in this morning, and a couple of my guys said he had phoned (again)," Holmgren said. "So I talked to him this morning, he said he would like to move up there to our pick. We had an interesting exchange about what that would take. It was kind of fun to do that with him. It worked. He told me the player he wanted (Cal defensive end Andre Carter). That didn't conflict with what we were doing, so it really worked out well for us."