This Saturday and Sunday in New York, the NFL will commence with its much-anticipated annual draft.

Round 1 will go off on Saturday at 3 p.m., with 10 minutes between picks, and Round 2, also on Saturday, will follow with 7 minutes between picks. On Sunday, Rounds 3-7 will conclude the annual ritual.

The NFL has truly taken center stage in the mega-sports wars. Even in the off-season, the league is abuzz with mock draft predictions,

The Detroit Lions, in a couple of days, will be on the proverbial draft clock.

I sure hope Lions President Matt Millen and Coach Rod Marinelli have put more effort into their homework.

The intriguing part of the NFL Draft is the secretiveness of the selections involved, especially the top 15 or so picks.

They each have that clock and dagger mentality. The draft is like a James Bond spy sequel. No one wants to show their hand to the other teams, and, at the same time, they want to keep the players and agents guessing, too.

The Lions are in the middle of the pack, drafting 15th in the first round. They have to sit back and react to what happens in front of them. Did this guy get taken off the board . . . did this guy drop down to them . . . or did a top five player overall magically appear?

Marinelli has gone on record and said that his team intends on drafting the players they like regardless of outside projections. Second, he named the team’s major needs as defensive end, middle linebacker, offensive tackle, and running back.

So far, the Lions have brought in 12 guys to evaluate. Marinelli named 10 of them: Florida defensive end Derrick Harvey; McNeese State defensive end Bryan Smith; Oklahoma linebacker Curtis Lofton; Tennessee linebacker Jerod Mayo; Purdue linebacker Cliff Avril; Vanderbilt offensive tackle Chris Williams; Boston College offensive tackle Gosder Cherilus; Kansas offensive tackle Anthony Collins; Central Florida running back Kevin Smith; and Tulane running back Matt Forte.

Generally, the Lions bring in twice as many players. But this year they streamlined the process.

“I felt, the first two years, there were so many in a day, I didn’t get a good feel for these guys,” Marinelli said in a press release. “When you bring in seven or eight a day, I don’t do as good a job for myself.”

It appears to me the Lions brain trust is more focused on their real needs, players they think can help get the team over the hump.

The Lions’ needs are obvious: They need a defensive lineman, offensive tackle, running back and inside linebacker.

That is a lot of needs for a team that seems to be in a constant rebuilding mode.

For me, the question is what comes first: “The chicken or the egg?”

Do I take a running back or offensive lineman Saturday? I can’t run without blocking, but I can’t run without a legitimate runner.

Personally, I’d go for an offensive tackle, especially if Boise State’s Ryan Clady is still around. He is rated as the second-best lineman in the entire draft and the seventh-best player overall by many draft experts.

However, the Lions did not bring him into camp (probably thinking he will be gone before their pick at No. 15). In that case Vanderbilt offensive tackle Chris Williams, the 18th-best player rated overall, would be a good choice.

If both Williams and Clady are gone, the Lions might get lucky and find running back Rashard Mendenhall of Illinois still on the board. It would be hard not to select him if he’s still there.

Also the Lions are looking at inside linebackers. Most say the top two, Jerod Mayo of Tennessee and Curtis Lofton of Oklahoma, will be gone. But if either one is still around, it would be hard to pass on them in spite of the glowing need of an offensive lineman.

Another scenario could be the availability of a defensive end. If Detroiter and Ohio State All-American Vernon Gholston is still around (highly unlikely), it would be close to impossible to not select him.

If the offensive linemen or linebackers are gone, then the best player available still on the board might be Florida’s super quick defensive end, Derrick Harvey.

As I see it, though, if all goes as planned and the draft choices fall as expected, Boise State offensive tackle Ryan Clady will be the one wearing a Lions uniform this fall.

Leland Stein can be heard on WGPR radio (107.5) every Sunday from 11 p.m. to midnight. He can be reached at lelstein3@aol.com.