Kiichiro Sato / AP file

Troy Smith dropped to the fifth round, where the Ravens picked him with the 174th overall selection.

“I was just stunned,” Bush said of not going in the first three rounds, probably because he needed a second surgery in March, when a new rod was inserted into his leg after the bone didn’t heal quickly enough. “I didn’t know what to expect, what to think. My agent and I didn’t have anything to go by. I just felt like maybe it wasn’t right for me to go on the first day. It was a little disappointing, but everything worked out fine.”

There even were some players with character issues who went in the middle rounds, including Florida defensive tackle Marcus Thomas — for whom the Denver Broncos traded their two remaining picks Sunday and a third-rounder in 2008.

“You talk about taking an educated gamble,” coach Mike Shanahan. “If they do make a mistake, then you have to release a player and let them go. No one’s bigger than the team. We’ve had players before that have been in this situation, and it’s been the best thing that’s ever happened. They come into the NFL without a second chance.

“Time will tell. I can’t tell you 100 percent. If I didn’t have a very good gut feeling about the guy he wouldn’t be with our organization.”

Shanahan also chose Gators DE Jarvis Moss in the first round. Moss tested positive for marijuana in the middle of the 2006 season and was suspended for one game.

Other notable selections Sunday were Ohio State RB Antonio Pittman, fourth round to New Orleans; Michigan WR Steve Breaston, fifth round to Arizona; Pittsburgh linebacker H.B. Blades, sixth round to Washington; UTEP quarterback Jordan Palmer, the brother of the Bengals’ Carson Palmer, sixth round to Washington; and WR Jordan Kent, who played three sports at Oregon and is the son of Ducks basketball coach Ernie Kent. Jordan Kent went at the end of the sixth round to Seattle.

The final pick of the longest draft ever — 18 hours, 5 minutes — was Alabama defensive back Ramzee Robinson by Detroit.

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