The hot spot in the first round of Saturday's NFL Draft continued Thursday to be the No. 5 pick overall, currently held by the Baltimore Ravens but being shopped all over the league. Even as Ravens vice president of personnel Ozzie Newsome was hinting he might just keep the choice now and take Florida State defensive tackle Corey Simon, teams were vying for it.

Word was that coach Brian Billick still wants a pair of offensive skill position players, so while Newsome might be sincere in his admiration for Simon, a trade-down remains the most likely scenario for the Ravens.

"They're still marketing that choice big-time," said one NFC general manager. "They've done everything short of film an infomercial for it."

Baltimore still has an offer from Green Bay, which covets Simon, and is considering it. Actually the proposal is a pretty solid one. The Packers are offering their first-round pick (No. 14 overall), a second-rounder (No. 44 overall) and a fourth-round choice (No. 108). The pick in the fourth round is one Green Bay gained from the New York Jets in last summer's trade of backup quarterback Rick Mirer.

The deal would fill the Ravens' hole in the second round, created by Wednesday's maneuver with Denver, in which Baltimore moved from the 15th overall choice to the 10th. Actually, obtaining a second-round choice from Green Bay would represent an overall net gain for the Ravens, since Green Bay's second-rounder is one spot higher than the one Baltimore dealt to the Broncos.

The Jets, who are trying to move up to secure Michigan State wide receiver Plaxico Burress, are still talking with the Ravens about the No. 5 pick but, for now at least, their offer is not quite as attractive as Green Bay's.

Michigan State receiver Plaxico Burress might go as high as the No. 5 overall pick.(AP)

A key as to whether the Ravens trade down from the top spot is the ongoing visit of unrestricted free agent defensive tackle Sam Adams to Baltimore. The six-year veteran arrived Thursday and is scheduled to depart Friday. SportsLine.com has learned agent Angelo Wright booked Adams on a Friday flight to Green Bay, a team with which he has been negotiating for a month.

The Packers are offering Adams, regarded two months ago as the best defensive tackle in the free-agent market, a one-year contract for $1.6 million. The Ravens will try to top that offer and plug Adams into the starting void created by the season-long suspension of defensive tackle Larry Webster for his fourth violation of the NFL's substance abuse policy. If the Ravens can finish a deal with Adams by Friday, they will probably bail out of the No. 5 draft spot.

Going to Kansas City?

On life support the last few days, the proposed trade to send unhappy tailback Corey Dillon from the Cincinnati Bengals to the Ravens appears to have flat-lined. The teams did not speak at all on Thursday and there are no planned discussions.

But that doesn't mean the three-year veteran runner is destined to play for the Bengals for at least one more season. SportsLine.com has learned that the Kansas City Chiefs retain interest in Dillon and that a draft day swap remains a possibility. The Chiefs own the 21st overall choice in the draft and team officials are said to be convinced that any running back available to them at that point won't be nearly as good as Dillon.

If there was a back remaining on the board that the Bengals liked -- in particular Cincinnati-area native Shaun Alexander of Alabama or Heisman Trophy winner Ron Dayne of Wisconsin -- the trade has a shot of being completed. The Chiefs would also send a later-round draft choice to the Bengals as well.

One a related note, Bengals owner Mike Brown appears to have no takers right now for veteran wide receiver Carl Pickens, another malcontent he has been shopping around the league. Brown is holding out hope that, should the Jets not be able to move up for Plaxico Burress, they will think about a deal that would net them Pickens in exchange for a second-round draft choice.

Heisman-type hype for Hamilton

It is the kind of promotion normally associated with college sports information offices trying to hype one of their players for the Heisman Trophy, and in that regard, former Georgia Tech star Joe Hamilton has been through this before.

But give credit to agent Hadley Engelhard and recording mogul Jermaine Dupri for one of the more clever bits of marketing in recent NFL drafts. The two men, who last summer combined their talents to form Atlanta-based So So Def Sports Management, Inc., this week mailed out to league personnel directors a flier touting the exploits of the former Yellow Jackets quarterback and Heisman runner-up.

The flier reads: "Although April 15th is tax day, use your refund and invest in your future ... JOE HAMILTON." Inside the packet are laminated, bogus $10 bills. And the smiling face pictured in the middle of the bill isn't Alexander Hamilton, but rather Joe Hamilton.

Engelhard and Dupri, whose clientele includes current league players such as tailback Dorsey Levens (Green Bay), cornerback Ray Buchanan (Atlanta), defensive end Phillip Daniels (Chicago) and cornerback Tyrone Poole (Indianapolis), have signed the bills in the spaces usually reserved for the signatures of the Treasurer of the United States and the Secretary of the Treasury.

On the flip side of the bill, a picture of the Georgia Dome has replaced that of the U.S. Treasury. And over the Georgia Dome, in block lettering, reads: "In So So Def Sports We Trust."

"We're just having some fun with it," Engelhard said. "We wanted to keep Joe in the minds of the scouts, that's all, and one of our marketing people thought this might be a neat way to do it. Hey, if it helps some general manager remember him, it will have been worth the modest investment."

Largely because of his lack of height, Hamilton is projected as a second-day pick, but Engelhard hopes the wait on Sunday isn't a long one. One of the most prolific and exciting playmakers in the college game the past two seasons, Hamilton is expected to spend the weekend watching the draft with his family in tiny Alvin, S.C. Another Alvin native, Penn State defensive end Courtney Brown, figures to be the first overall player selected, by the Cleveland Browns.

A billboard at the city limits of Alvin welcomes visitors to "the hometown of Joe Hamilton." But even Hamilton realizes he's soon to be only the second most famous resident. "Oh, yeah," agreed Hamilton, "that (billboard) is going to be changing."

Scouts are split on Hamilton, whose workouts were only average. Noted one NFC West personnel man: "Watching him throw from the pocket during his (on campus) workout, he really struggled at times. But when he's on the run, getting outside the tackles, he can make plays. It seems like his accuracy and arm strength actually improve in those situations."

Gruber set to return

SportsLine.com has learned that offensive left tackle Paul Gruber has put off retirement plans for at least one more year and will return to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for a 13th season. Gruber broke a leg late last season and missed the team's playoff run and then its advance to the NFC Championship Game.

Agent Ralph Cindrich allowed that "a lot of things" still need to be settled contractually but that Gruber will play. The two sides likely won't even begin talking about a contract until after the draft. Gruber, 35, is an unrestricted free agent but has solicited no offers from other teams.

Word is that Gruber is excited by the free-agent additions of center Jeff Christy and left guard Randall McDaniel and that he believes the Bucs can go to the Super Bowl in 2000.

Facing a time crunch

Few personnel directors will admit it, and none will publicly use it as an excuse for a poor draft, but privately some head scouts conceded to SportsLine.com this week that they are scrambling to finish evaluation sessions and don't feel as prepared for this lottery as they have past ones.

The reason is simple: The combine workouts in Indianapolis were conducted about two weeks later than normal this year, and the draft is one week earlier than usual. That's a full three fewer weeks of preparation time for scouting departments, and the strain apparently is starting to show in some draft sessions.

"We've had some marathons," said one longtime scout from an NFC West team. "I think it has reached the point of diminishing returns some nights, we've worked so late. You feel like you're getting the work done, but I'm not sure we are, to tell you the truth."

Those personnel directors who have favored moving the combine back even further, even into March, might have to revisit their position. The feeling has been that a later combine will force more players to complete the entire workout, including the 40-yard run, at Indianapolis. A later combine, they reason, means players don't have as much time for the on-campus sessions they prefer. But sometime after this draft, when scouting departments review the events of the past few weeks, more teams might decide the combine should remain in February.

He could always sell insurance

When you start listing the "good hands people" in this weekend's draft, don't forget to include Miami (Ohio) tailback Travis Prentice. Projected as a second-round choice, Travis went from November 1996 to October 1999 without losing a fumble. That was an NCAA-record 862 straight carries without losing the ball.

Of course, when Prentice did fumble against Bowling Green last October, he was summarily removed from the game by running backs coach Ron Johnson, who didn't care about the record. All Johnson knew was that Prentice lost the ball, a nearly unpardonable transgression to him.

"I still hear his voice in my head, 'Tuck that ball, don't drop that ball,'" Prentice said. "He would always say, 'You're expendable, but there's only one ball on the field.' So I took care of the ball."

For the record, Prentice missed only one series of seven plays before he was reinserted into the game by head coach Terry Hoeppner.

Goodrich checks out OK ...

Tennessee cornerback Dwayne Goodrich, who began last season as one of the two highest-rated players at his position and then saw his stock drop along with that of fellow preseason standout Mario Edwards of Florida State, has been cleared medically by most teams now. At the combine two months ago, team doctors detected what they felt might be a problem with Goodrich's heart, a murmur perhaps complicated by a buildup of fluid.

But the former Vols star underwent a battery of tests at Northwestern University and then at the recent retest in Indianapolis, where players who had injuries during the first combine undergo a second physical scrutiny. Goodrich had an EKG and a stress test, and doctors were satisfied with the results.

"Everything is fine," agent Steve Zucker told SportsLine.com. "I've talked to all the people who were at Indianapolis and they all say there is no problem. I'm trying to make sure all the teams know that he checked out all right."

Zucker denied some teams have asked Goodrich to sign a waiver, to protect themselves. But two teams told SportsLine.com that, despite the satisfactory tests, they will not consider Goodrich and have removed him from their draft boards. Goodrich helped his cause a bit recently when he was clocked at under 4.4 in the 40-yard dash. Most teams, though, still view him as a mid-round pick.

... and so does Samuels

Offensive tackle Chris Samuels of Alabama also had to deal with reports of physical problems and, like Goodrich, satisfied most teams enough that he should not merit a red flag on draft boards. Samuels had arthroscopic surgery on his right knee following the Crimson Tide's season, and there were rumors that the injury that sidelined him for the Orange Bowl was still a problem.

In addition, a trainer from an AFC East team dug back and discovered Samuels had some neck and back problems in high school and brought that to the attention of some clubs.

But the Washington Redskins, who will draft Samuels with the second overall choice Saturday, did extensive physical workups on the left tackle and found no problems. In fact, during an MRI, the X-ray machine broke, and Samuels had to go to another hospital to complete the procedure.

Sliding scale

When superagent Leigh Steinberg was recruiting quarterback Chris Redman earlier this year, the Louisville star was still regarded as neck-and-neck with Marshall's Chad Pennington for the spot of highest-rated player at the position. And so Steinberg, who has represented nine players who were the first overall choices, made Redman a unique deal.

If Redman was not the top quarterback selected, Steinberg said, then he would only have to pay the agent a 1 percent commission. If he was the first passer chosen, the commission would be the maximum 3 percent allowed by the NFL Players Association.

The deal has turned into a good-news/bad-news scenario for Redman. He'll end up paying only the 1 percent fee. But he probably won't be drafted until later in the second round, and his contract will be worth considerably less than if he had been the top passer in the draft.

Ups and downs

Among the players who have risen on draft boards across the league in recent days are cornerback Antwan Harris (Virginia), linebacker Jeff Ulbrich (Hawaii), wide receiver Dennis Northcutt (Arizona), quarterback Todd Husak (Stanford), linebacker Marcus Washington (Auburn), and safety Aric Morris (Michigan State). Some of the players sliding are cornerback Ike Charlton (Virginia Tech), cornerback Kareem Larrimore (West Texas A&M), offensive tackle Jonathan Gray (Texas Tech) and safety Deon Grant (Tennessee).

The last word

Brigham Young middle linebacker Rob Morris, who was featured in a SportsLine.com preview earlier this week, on his image as a little off-center: "Some people think I'm off biting the heads off chickens when I'm not playing. But I am a person with very strong religious beliefs, and I respect the beliefs of others. I think I'm intelligent. I like helping people. Hopefully, those kinds of things will stick out about me, too."