KAPOLEI, Hawaii -- The cornerback-wide receiver banter has moved to Hawaii this week.
Deion Sanders and Jerry Rice continued their friendly repartee as Pro Bowl week kicked off with the NFL's new draft format.
Rice won the coin toss Tuesday and selected the team captain duo of Drew Brees and Robert Quinn. J.J. Watt and Jamaal Charles are captains of Sanders' team.
"Don't think we forgot Jerry picked them first," Watt said jokingly (we think) at the coin toss news conference.
After a brief powwow with their captains, Team Sanders and Team Rice kicked off Day 1 of the 2014 Pro Bowl Draft, selecting defensive and offensive interior linemen, fullbacks, special teams players and punters.
Sanders kicked off the snake draft by selecting Detroit Lions defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh. He followed that by adding the man Suh was drafted ahead of in 2010, Gerald McCoy. Sanders rounded out the defensive tackle position by taking the Kansas City Chiefs' Dontari Poe.
Combined with Watt, that is a dominant quatro. (If defense mattered in the Pro Bowl, that is.)
To combat that front, Team Rice took both of Brees' offensive line teammates, Jahri Evans and Ben Grubbs. Rice rounded out the position with Philadelphia Eagles' Evan Mathis, who Pro Football Focus rated their No. 1 overall guard in 2013.
Sanders, the always confident Hall of Fame cornerback, was asked during one commercial break if he could grade his draft thus far.
"I wouldn't even grade us, because it's not fair," Sanders quipped.
Pro Bowl coaches Chuck Pagano (Team Sanders) and Ron Rivera (Team Rice) were able to select their team's long snapper.
In a quirky circumstance, Rivera selected Indianapolis Colts long snapper Matt Overton for Team Rice and Pagano selected J.J. Jansen of the Carolina Panthers.
The circumstance lends itself to some potential subterfuge.
"I think J.J. is going to do the right thing," Rivera said, laughingly insinuating the snapper could launch one over the punter's head.
Day 2 of the 2014 Pro Bowl Draft will round out the rosters, live on NFL Network on Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET. Team Sanders will get the first pick.
The latest "Around The League Podcast" previewed the inaugural Pro Bowl draft.
