Besides a few lawsuits and realignment discussions, it is fairly quiet on the NFL front these days. Many of the prized free agents have already been signed, and most clubs, with the exceptions of Cleveland and Cincinnati, find themselves tight against the salary cap.

Teams are now focusing their attention on the NFL draft to fill out their rosters. Scouts around the league are traveling throughout the country to attend private player workouts. Team executives are spending long hours in their war rooms, updating their draft boards and planning their strategy. Of course, all parties involved remain tightlipped about their draft-day intentions, and they are not above spreading bits of misinformation to the press.

With the draft less than three weeks away, I have sized up the prospects, and present you with an overview of the 2001 draft class. For each position, I have discussed the brightest prospects and ranked the players (a total of 230) who have the best chances to be drafted. My top-100 players, those that are highlighted in blue, have first-, second-, or third-round potential. I have also included an overall position grade, which is based on depth and quality.

Finding a top-notch defensive end that can put pressure on an opposing team’s quarterback is a priority draft need for the majority of NFL organizations. A total of 14 ends recorded 10 or more sacks this past NFL season. However, only a trio of teams -- New Orleans, St. Louis and Miami -- had a pair of top pass rushing ends, which means that the rest of the 28 teams in the league had only eight double-digit sack artists between them. A minimum of three prospects will be taken in the first round, while handful of others should be selected before the start of the fourth.

There is a fair amount of debate over who is the best defensive end this year, but the general consensus is that Missouri’s Justin Smith is the top prospect. He was the first Tiger in the last 15 years to start every game as a true freshman, and he became the school’s all-time sack leader with 22½ after recording 11 as a junior. A durable performer, he started 33 straight games, and in just three seasons, he recorded 53 tackles for losses, with a majority of them coming against the toughest competition.

A pair of speed rushers, Andre Carter and Jamal Reynolds, closely follow Smith. Despite facing constant double-teams as a senior, Carter led California with 13 sacks and 19 tackles for losses. Last season after finishing fourth in the country with 12 sacks, Reynolds won the Lombardi Trophy, given annually to the nation’s top lineman. All three players have running back-type speed, but they are also undersized.

Defensive Tackles (Grade: B+)

Defensive tackles are primarily responsible for stopping the run, but ideally, they can collapse the pocket and pressure the passer, too. Last season, La’Roi Glover (New Orleans), Warren Sapp (Tampa Bay), Trevor Pryce (Denver) and Keith Hamilton (N.Y. Giants) were the only four DTs that recorded 10 or more sacks.

A number of older, high priced tackles have been released this offseason, including Ted Washington, Dana Stubblefield, and Cortez Kennedy. Several teams, such as the Rams and Dallas, went so far as to cut both of their starting tackles. With most clubs strapped by the salary cap, they will turn to the draft to replenish this area, and the good news is that defensive tackle is one of the stronger positions this year.

Florida’s Gerard Warren and Georgia’s Richard Seymour and Marcus Stroud are potential top 10 picks. Warren appears to be a notch ahead of the two Bulldogs. He weighs in at 325 and has the strength to match, while possessing the speed to pressure the passer. Overall, a total of five prospects could go in the first round, and expect to see 8-12 tackles go off the board during the first day of the draft.

Inside Linebackers (Grade: C+)

Show me a team that can’t stop the run, and I’ll show you a team that doesn’t have a great middle linebacker. Most dominating defenses have smart, physical tackling machines in the middle; Ray Lewis in Baltimore, Jeremiah Trotter in Philadelphia, and Zach Thomas in Miami are three good examples. While there is no Lewis available in this year’s draft, a few prospects have shown the potential to be solid starters at the next level.

Miami’s Dan Morgan stands a legitimate chance of being selected in the first round, though some feel that he is better suited to play on the outside. Morgan, a unanimous All-American last season, capped a tremendous college career by winning the Bronko Nagurski and Chuck Bednarik awards as the top defensive player in the country and the Dick Butkus Award as the top linebacker. He started 43 career games, and set both the Big East and the school record for career tackles.

The speedy Torrance Marshall, the defensive leader of the National Champion Oklahoma Sooners and MVP of the Sugar Bowl, follows Morgan. Marshall and Georgia’s Kendrell Bell should be gone by the end of the second round, while 2-4 other prospects should go within the first four rounds. The class is limited overall, with the field thinning out after the top 8-9 prospects.

Outside Linebackers (Grade: B-)

Finding an outside linebacker who has the size, speed, instincts, and playmaking ability to wreak havoc on an opposing team’s offense is at the forefront of the minds of most coaches and front office people throughout the league. One-dimensional pass rushers, nickel ‘backers restricted to pass coverage, or amazing athletes with limited football instincts are more the norm at this position. This year’s group has a pretty good combination of all of those mentioned above, but lacks one true star. Some team may dip into this position near the end of the first round, although the bulk of the top talent will fall between rounds two through four.

Florida State’s Tommy Polley heads my list, closely trailed by Arkansas’ Quinton Caver and North Carolina’s Sedrick Hodge. Polley would have more distance between himself and the rest of the field if it were not for the torn ACL that he suffered at the end of the 1999 season. Even so, he combines awesome athleticism with top-notch natural football instincts, and should be gone by early in the second round. Craver played mostly inside linebacker in college, but his tall frame and potential as a pass rusher will cause him to slide outside at the next level. Hodge has a near perfect combination of size, speed, and quickness, but his football instincts and fundamentals trail his athleticism.

Cornerbacks (Grade: B+)

With the addition of several underclassmen, the 2001 cornerback class could produce as many as four first-round picks, and a total of seven to ten prospects could be taken in the first three rounds. Overall, the field is fairly deep, and talent will still be there in the later rounds. The demand is also there because of all the wide receiver talent that has recently entered or will enter the league this year.

The class features big, physical corners who can match up at the line of scrimmage against the taller wideouts that are now prevalent in the league, and there are others who are quick, speedy, undersized defenders that have better coverage skills. Any prospects that combine all of those attributes in the eyes of scouts will be the first off the board.

There is no consensus on who is the top cornerback in the draft. Many like Mississippi State’s trash-talking Fred Smoot, a former All-American with natural coverage skills. I favor Nate Clements of Ohio State. Clements has superior size, speed, and strength. He packs 4.3 speed and a 40-inch vertical leap into a 5-11, 209-pound frame. An All-Big Ten selection, Clements will be able to handle the rigors of starting as a rookie, and his size, smarts, and natural ball skills will allow him to match up against the league’s bigger receivers. On the other hand, the slight Smoot may struggle if forced to play a lot of bump-and-run coverage.

The other prospects that have first-round potential are Will Allen, Jamar Fletcher, and Ken Lucas.

Safeties (Grade: B-)

Safety is a position that is often overlooked in the first round. In fact, the last pure safety to be selected in the first ten picks of the NFL Draft was Eric Turner, who was drafted by Cleveland in 1991. This year’s group has two prospects who should garner first-round consideration, followed by a second-tier group of 5-6 players who should be selected in round two or three.

The two first-round prospects are Florida State’s Derrick Gibson and Arizona State’s Adam Archuleta. I gave Gibson the nod based on experience, but Archuleta may have more potential. Gibson has cornerback-type speed (4.4 range) and ideal size for a safety, giving him the ability to cover most wide receivers one-on-one. However, he has had some off-the-field trouble, and has a tendency to be undisciplined on the field. Archuleta has wowed scouts at workouts, running the forty in 4.37 seconds, bench pressing 225 pounds 31 times, and displaying a 39’’ vertical leap. A linebacker in college, Archuleta led the Sun Devils in tackles the last two years, and assuming that he can master the nuances of playing defensive back, has the potential to be a Lawyer Milloy-type performer.

Kickers and Punters (Grade: D+)

Over the past few seasons, teams such as Chicago, Oakland, Tennessee, and Washington have learned the hard way just how critical a kicker can be. Oakland’s Sebastian Janikowski (1^st round, 2000) and Tampa Bay’s Martin Gramatica (3^rd round, 1999) were recent high draft picks, and the Raiders used a fifth-round pick on punter Shane Lechler last year. There are at least eight NFL clubs that could use a new place kicker, and several veterans who are way past their prime, including Al Del Greco and Steve Christie, are available, while John Carney and Doug Brien are also free agents.

Looking over the rookie talent, it is unlikely that any of the prospects will be taken in the very early rounds of this draft. Place kicker Bill Gramatica and punter Nick Harris are the top prospects. Gramatica, who is Martin’s younger brother, made 16-of-18 field goals at his pro-day workout and has 55-yard range. Harris, a four-year starter at California, who has worked with former Raiders great Ray Guy, has excellent leg strength and is also very good at placing punts inside the 20. However, with former college stars Todd Sauerbrun and Brad Maynard being recent third-round disappointments, teams may be reluctant to take Harris before the fourth round.