NFL Draft 2008 Tuesday, April 29 Andrew Perloff: Early look at 2009 draft Tony Pauline: Top prospects for 2009 Peter King: Monday Morning QB Mailbag Monday, April 28 Peter King: Monday Morning Quarterback Dr. Z: Non-grading every team's draft Richard Deitsch: How did the media do? Sunday, April 27 Don Banks: How the class of QBs stack up Michael Lombardi: Lessons from the draft Tony Pauline: Top 10 steals and reaches Draft Tracker: Review all 252 selections Saturday, April 26 Don Banks: Need, speed dominate first day Bucky Brooks: Pick-by-pick breakdowns SI.com At The Draft Blog: Fourteen writers in 11 cities bring you behind the scenes Photo Galleries SI's best pictures from the NFL draft Top six picks take in Big Apple sights Darren McFadden | Glenn Dorsey Matt Ryan | Rashard Mendenhall Vernon Gholston | Jake Long Derrick Harvey | Keith Rivers

There's no question that a major factor in Kansas City's willingness to deal defensive end Jared Allen to Minnesota was his two strikes in the league's substance-abuse program, dating back to his two-year-old driving-while-impaired arrests while a member of the Chiefs.

"Absolutely,'' club president Carl Peterson said late Wednesday from the Kansas City war room, where he was making final preparations for a suddenly very rich Chiefs draft. "You've got to weigh everything when you're considering a deal like this ... I have a fiduciary responsibility to this ownership, the Lamar Hunt family, to be cognizant of all the factors when making decisions of this magnitude.''

The league is still buzzing over the Allen deal. Minnesota traded the 17th pick in the first round plus two third-round choices to Kansas City for Allen, then made him the highest-paid defensive player in NFL history with a six-year, $74-million deal. This despite the fact that if he has a third alcohol-related incident, he is eligible to be suspended for up to a year by commissioner Roger Goodell.

SI.com's Don Banks reported on this site Wednesday that Allen will be free and clear of the league's substance-abuse program in September, when he reaches the two-year anniversary of his last driving-while-impaired arrest. That is true. But there is an asterisk to that. After being compliant and incident-free for two years, a player is eligible to exit the substance-abuse program. But Goodell retains the right to suspend a player for a violation after he exits the program.

Five things I think I think

... 48 hours before the draft:

1. I think, morals aside, this is the way you have to look at the Cowboys' deal for Pacman Jones: He's their fourth-round pick. What are the chances Jones gives the Cowboys two very good years? Twenty percent? Twenty-five percent? I'll take that any day of the week.

2. I think Matt Ryan ends up with Atlanta at No. 3 or Baltimore at No. 8. A few days ago the Ravens were thinking their best option would be to trade down for Chad Henne in the middle of the first round because Ryan would be gone. Today they're thinking they can sit where they are and have a good chance for him to fall to them.

3. I think the Patriots will have something to say about that. Look for them to try to broker the seventh pick to a Baltimore or Carolina if Ryan is still there.

4. I think if you want to pry Jason Taylor from the Dolphins, you should place a call and offer a low first-round draft choice. Bill Parcells will not only listen, he'll make the deal. To me, the perfect team to make this call is San Diego, sitting at 27 with a chance to get the perfect bookend to Shawne Merriman to torment the passer. That could be the difference-maker in finally beating the Patriots in January.

5. I think projecting the end of the first round is always murky, but I keep hearing that Jacksonville, desperate for any pass-rush help, will dump out of the 26th pick to go high in the second round for an extra pick or picks because they've got a few guys clumped together after the premier rushers go off the board.

Bonus I think: I think you should check out Mike Lombardi's latest column. It's full of the kind of insight only people who have lived through draft weekends can have.