Jerry Rice and Deion Sanders are the official team captains for the two teams meeting in Sunday’s Pro Bowl at Aloha Stadium.

But once Rice selected New Orleans quarterback Drew Brees as one of his two player captains, Brees immediately went to work as the GM, making sure he’d get the rest of his Saints on his team.

After drafting offensive linemen Jahri Evans and Ben Grubbs on Tuesday, Brees made sure he’d have his favorite weapon with him on Sunday, selecting tight end Jimmy Graham as Team Rice’s first official draft pick on Wednesday.

"It’s awesome that there’s so many Saints players on it because we’re kind of like a little wolf pack," Graham said. "I’m sure for (Brees), he’s just getting all of his weapons ready."

Graham was picked 94 spots earlier in the Pro Bowl draft than as a rookie in 2010, when the Saints chose him in the third round.

Brees, who has hooked up with the 6-foot-7 tight end 41 times for touchdowns, had an easy choice to make once Rice allowed him to make the pick.

"He had been saying for the last two days he was going to get me if I was still there," Graham said.

Once Graham went off the board, the only Saints player left up for grabs was defensive end Cameron Jordan.

Jordan watched from the green room for more than an hour as Brees and Rice passed him up for eight rounds before selecting him 18th overall as the second defensive end taken, after Indianapolis’ Robert Mathis.

"I don’t know what happened, man, I’m not going to lie," Jordan said. "I was the last (Saints) player picked, but it’s cool. I figured I was a shoe-in, though, because my guy was a captain."

It came as an even bigger surprise after Brees expressed concern at potentially having to play against his own Saints teammates under the new draft format.

As the rounds continued to go by and his name wasn’t called, Jordan might have thought about what it would be like to suit up for the other team.

"Drew is my guy. I would never want to go after him," he said. "I think that’s what I’m supposed to say, right?"

Unlike Team Sanders, which started the draft by selecting two quarterbacks, Rice’s crew failed to add a second quarterback to the mix until the end.

Since it was mandated that quarterbacks be taken with the last two picks, Rice filled his other positions before eventually selecting San Diego’s Philip Rivers in the final round.

Rivers and Brees are teammates for the first time since the 2005 season, when Rivers backed up Brees in San Diego.

Rivers, who was drafted fourth overall and traded to San Diego in a draft-day deal involving Eli Manning in 2004, spent two years behind Brees, who was named the NFL Comeback Player of the Year in ’04.

In a highly publicized and heavily debated move, the Chargers decided not to re-sign Brees in favor of Rivers.

Both have had stellar careers since, with Rivers playing in his fifth Pro Bowl while Brees has been selected to eight.

"It started way back with Drew 10 years ago," Rivers said Wednesday. "It’s going to be fun being on the same team with him again."

With Rivers off the board, the final two quarterback spots came down to Philadelphia’s Nick Foles and Kansas City’s Alex Smith.

Sanders had first pick and chose Foles, leaving Rice’s team with Smith, a former No. 1 pick himself, as the "Mr. Not-So-Irrelevant" pick.

"It comes all the way around," Smith said. "It was new for me sitting in that green room that long."

TEAM RICE