Even The Chart would agree. You know, The Chart. If it isn't hanging on your refrigerator, next to your Phillies schedule magnet, it should be. Because the NFL's draft-choice value chart will be the single most important piece of paper in Philadelphia sports in the next month (even more than Phils reliever Rudy Seanez' newly signed contract).

The Eagles have about a thousand draft choices right now - OK, 11 - and they are likely to add one or two more when they trade cornerback Lito Sheppard. It is hard to believe they won't get at least a second-rounder out of that transaction. At which point, The Chart will be your constant companion.

The Eagles will be faced with dilemmas on a couple of levels. They don't need a dozen or more draft choices. They couldn't possibly afford to pay a dozen draft choices. They couldn't find roster spots for a dozen draft choices. So the first decision will be to jettison some of these picks - consolidating them, trading a pick this year for a similar pick next year, that kind of thing. It's just about certain that there will be some of this (although they can't trade any of the three compensatory picks they received from the NFL in exchange for the free agents they lost last season).

The bigger dilemma will be at the top of the draft. Simply put, do the Eagles want to take a first-rounder and two second-rounders, or do they want to put together a package and try to move up? Which leads to questions . . . like, how far could a second-rounder move you up? How about a third-rounder?

This is where The Chart comes into play. The concept was devised by then-Cowboys coach Jimmy Johnson in the late 1980s, and it assigns a value to each pick in each round. It comes in many flavors - each team has its own variation - but a common chart has the first pick in the first round valued at 3,000 points and the last pick in the seventh round valued at 0.4 points.

The Eagles' first-round pick this season is No. 19, valued at 875 points. With that, let's move the pieces.

For instance, what would it take for the Eagles to move up to, say, the ninth spot in the draft, provided that they could persuade the Cincinnati Bengals to move out of that spot?

The Chart says that the ninth pick is worth 1,350 point, which means the Eagles would need to supply the Bengals with their 19th pick (875 points) plus their current second-round pick (about 410 points) plus a fourth-round pick (about 65 points).

Again, the values are approximate - it might take a little more or less - but you get the point. It will require a bunch to move up into the Top 10. Even to move four spots would likely take the Eagles' third-rounder.

That last one is a steep price, but might be worth doing for the right guy - especially when you see that the Eagles would then likely have three of the top 49 picks in the draft (assuming the Sheppard trade brings a mid-to-high second-rounder).

That's the way to go - move up a little in the first round, if it's beneficial, and then take those three high shots and hope to hit on two of them. Then begin the packaging and delaying and jettisoning of the rest of the picks to get it down to a manageable number - say, six or seven or eight.

When you look at the Pro Bowl in the last few years, the overwhelming majority of players who made it were drafted in the first 70 picks. The Eagles would have three in the first 49, presumably. If the Eagles could hit on two there, they might find themselves with the next Brian Dawkins, or a really fast returner, or a young cornerback to groom, or an athletic offensive lineman, or some combination thereof.

They should keep those, fiddle with the rest, and be a slave to The Chart.

One last thing: According to The Chart, back in 1989, that 81st pick was worth 185 points. When you total it up - and guesstimate a little, seeing as how The Chart only goes to the seventh round - with all of those picks, Buddy Ryan gave up only about 45 points.

Genius, I say - and not only because it got us all home for dinner. *

Send e-mail to hofmanr@phillynews.com.

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