PALM BEACH, Fla. -- When the Steelers revealed the names of a couple of quarterbacks who have accepted invitations to visit their facility next week, one name stuck out for not being on the list.

	Karl DeBlaker, Associated Press North Carolina State quarterback Philip Rivers slips a tackle by New Mexico's Gabriel Fulbright during a game last season. Click photo for larger image.

Ben Roethlisberger of Miami (Ohio) and Tulane's J.P. Losman are among 20 college prospects who will come to Pittsburgh to be evaluated for the draft. Philip Rivers of North Carolina State will not.

"It's a smokescreen," one NFL general manager said yesterday at the league meetings. "Rivers is the guy they want."

The Steelers have the 11th overall pick in the draft and Rivers is said by many to be the quarterback they are targeting. Coach Bill Cowher was among those who attended Rivers' workout March 22 at North Carolina State. He did not attend Roethlisberger's workout three days later in Ohio with new Steelers quarterbacks coach Mark Whipple.

The Steelers, who have not drafted a quarterback in the first round in 24 years, could snap that drought in 3 1/2 weeks. Tommy Maddox has been their starter and Charlie Batch a backup the past two seasons. Brian St. Pierre joined the team as a fifth-round draft pick last year.

"That's probably the most important position on your team," football operations director Kevin Colbert said yesterday at the NFL meetings. "You have to be secure at that position, and we feel good about our position, we really do, with Tommy, Charlie and Brian. We feel we have a good group. But we say you never know what's going to present itself at No. 11. We want to make sure."

Colbert said Maddox's interest in getting a new contract will have no bearing on whether the Steelers draft a quarterback or not.

Maddox, 32, is scheduled to earn $750,000 in salary this season, $250,000 less than Batch. He talked to Dan Rooney in June about getting more money on a contract that he signed as a backup. He and his agent, Vann McElroy, spoke again to Rooney and Cowher about the situation this year.

"They've committed to take care of Tommy's contract after the draft, as they have done with others," McElroy said yesterday. "They did it with Kordell Stewart in June."

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Maddox will start working out April 11 at the team's training facility. He has been working out on his own in Texas.

"Tommy's ready to come in. He's excited about going in and helping take this team to the Super Bowl," McElroy said. "He feels very comfortable with what coach Cowher and Mr. Rooney have told him."

If the Steelers draft Rivers or another quarterback, they likely would not want to make him their starter as a rookie, or perhaps even in his second season.

Eli Manning, regarded as the best quarterback in the draft, likely will be taken in the top few picks. Colbert believes the Steelers will have a shot to take one of the other quarterbacks.

"We want to bring people in we realistically think we have a chance to get," Colbert said. "We're not going to bring people in we don't think we have a chance to get."

Why Roethlisberger and not Rivers?

"We may have a realistic chance to get him," Colbert said.

There's also another reason: The Steelers have had their eyes on Rivers for a while and got to see him practice all week in Mobile, Ala., for the Senior Bowl, in which he was named MVP.

"In a case like Roethlisberger, he's a junior,'' Colbert said. "You don't have as many exposures to him. We can spend extra time with him. We probably know a little less about him."

Technically, teams can only bring prospects to their facility to ask medical questions or for a medical exam.

"We want to bring in kids who weren't at the combine, didn't have a physical or if there are questions about them medically," Colbert said.

NOTES -- Among other prospects who will visit the Steelers' facility starting next week are two likely first-round picks, Ohio State cornerback Chris Gamble and Arkansas offensive tackle Shawn Andrews, both juniors. Andrews had weighed more than 360 pounds but has dropped about 20 pounds. Senior CB Ricardo Colclough of obscure Tusculum, considered a possible second-round pick, also will visit.