We talk a lot about “positional value” in the NFL and the draft, in terms of which positions are most coveted at the top of the draft each year and which generally draw the most expensive contracts in free agency. A team has 11 players on the field on any given play, but we can tell from draft tendencies and spending trends which are the most important, the most valued, the most expensive.
So we went back over the first rounds of the past 10 drafts — 318 total picks, with two forfeited — to get a better measure of where NFL teams put their most valued resources as first-round picks. We categorized players by where they settled in as pros, as opposed to what they played in college or the position at which they were drafted. This typically is just an offensive line issue, but it also comes into play with versatile defensive pieces as well.
We charted which positions had the most total first-round picks, the most in the top 10, the most in the top five, and can use that to create a positional ranking for the past decade and see what the league values most. The top positions shouldn’t be surprising, but some of the subsequent ones might have numbers you didn’t expect.
1. QUARTERBACK
Total picks: 35
Top-10 picks: 26
Top-five picks: 19
Highest pick: First overall (eight times)
Most/least: Six in 2024, one in 2022
Of course this is a position that dominates the top of the draft. Quarterbacks account for 70 percent of the top-two picks in the past decade, with 14 out of 20. The constant search for a franchise QB makes teams overpay and trade up even though the success rate is hit-or-miss, even in the top five picks. There’s a boom-or-bust aspect to where QBs are drafted — once you get past the top 10, there’s less than one quarterback per year taken in the rest of the first round. Those picks include Lamar Jackson and Jordan Love, so the success rate holds a little more value later in the first round. The eight quarterbacks taken No. 1 overall in the past decade have combined for just 12 Pro Bowl appearances, with Jared Goff (four) as the only one with more than two.
2. EDGE RUSHER
Total picks: 50
Top-10 picks: 16
Top-five picks: 12
Highest pick: First overall (Myles Garrett in 2017, Travon Walker in 2022)
Most/least: Eight in 2017, two in 2020
The second most important player to an NFL quarterback is the guy tasked with taking down those quarterbacks. We’ve seen elite sack artists like Maxx Crosby and Myles Garrett reset the market this summer, with Micah Parsons likely the next to land a jackpot extension. The 50 first-round edge picks are the most of any position — in fairness, there are two in the game for every one quarterback. Because this is another position valued so much by NFL teams, it’s gotten harder to find productive pass-rushers outside the first round, with Crosby (fourth round in 2019) and Trey Hendrickson (third in 2017) as recent exceptions.
3. WIDE RECEIVER
Total picks: 45
Top-10 picks: 13
Top-five picks: 4
Highest pick: Fourth overall (Amari Cooper in 2015, Marvin Harrison Jr. in 2024)
Most/least: Seven in 2024, two in 2018/2019
We’re seeing top-tier receivers making $40 million a year now, so this position is right there with edge rushers among the most coveted by NFL teams. Receivers generally don’t crack the very top of the draft, but for volume take-a-swing first-rounders, the only position with more first-round picks outside the top 10 in the past decade is edge rushers. This actually could be something of a down year for first-round receivers, after seven last year. It’s a position prone to runs — there were four straight receivers taken in 2023, and three in a row in 2016 and 2022.
4. CORNERBACK
Total picks: 41
Top-10 picks: 10
Top-five picks: 6
Highest pick: Third overall (Jeff Okudah in 2020, Derek Stingley Jr. in 2022)
Most/least: Six in 2020, one in 2019
Last year was something of an outlier with no corners in the first 20 picks, and while the position isn’t paid nearly as well as the receivers they line up against, we’re seeing a steady rise in corner pay after a decade of little or no growth. Corners taken at the very top of the draft can go to both extremes: Jalen Ramsey, Denzel Ward and Sauce Gardner were solid hits, but Jeff Okudah is now on his fourth team in four years.
5. OFFENSIVE TACKLE
Total picks: 43
Top-10 picks: 14
Top-five picks: 2
Highest pick: Fourth overall (Andrew Thomas in 2020)
Most/least: Eight in 2024, two in 2017
Much like receivers, tackles are rarely at the very top of the draft, but no position has more picks between six and 10 in the past decade. This is a position where the very best are often found outside the top 10 — Tristan Wirfs, Laremy Tunsil and Rashawn Slater all at No. 13, for instance. Last year’s first round had eight tackles, which shows teams identifying another key position where it helps to find solid starters inexpensively on rookie contracts.
6. DEFENSIVE TACKLE
Total picks: 29
Top-10 picks: 6
Top-five picks: 1
Highest pick: Third overall (Quinnen Williams in 2019)
Most/least: Seven in 2019, none in 2021
There’s been an odd reversal at this position: 20 first-round defensive tackles from 2015-19, but just nine in the past five years, and only one (Derrick Brown at No. 7 in 2020) higher than 13. Teams sought to find their own Aaron Donald and consistently didn’t, so the interior defensive line has regressed in overall draft value. The two highest-drafted defensive tackles in the past four drafts are both by the Eagles (Jordan Davis and Jalen Carter), who showed the strength of their interior depth in winning a Super Bowl in February.
7. RUNNING BACK
Total picks: 14
Top-10 picks: 6
Top-five picks: 3
Highest pick: Second overall (Saquon Barkley in 2018)
Most/least: Three in 2018; none in 2023
Running backs hit a real rut from 2019-22, with none drafted higher than 24 over a four-year span. But there’s been a bit of a rebound with Bijan Robinson and Jahmyr Gibbs in 2023, and potentially a high pick in Ashton Jeanty coming this year. The days of top-five running backs like Ezekiel Elliott, Leonard Fournette and Saquon Barkley might be largely in the past, but even two first-round picks this year would match the most since Barkley’s draft in 2018.
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8. INSIDE LINEBACKER
Total picks: 19
Top-10 picks: 4
Top-five picks: 1
Highest pick: Fifth overall (Devin White in 2019)
Most/least: Four in 2018, 2021; one three times
They’re the quarterbacks of the defense, but that doesn’t extend to linebackers getting paid well or drafted with any prominence. There were no first-round linebackers last year, and the only one drafted higher than 16th in the past five years, Isaiah Simmons, is essentially a hybrid safety now. Top-10 picks like Roquan Smith and White weren’t re-signed by the teams that drafted them. With rare exception, this is a position where the NFL lays low, avoiding high picks and big checks.
9. OFFENSIVE GUARD
Total picks: 14
Top-10 picks: 2
Top-five picks: 1
Highest pick: Fifth overall (Brandon Scherff in 2015)
Most/least: Three in 2015, 2023; none in 2017
The premium placed on tackles at the top of the draft doesn’t trickle down inside. Last year, no true guards were drafted in the first round, and the only top-10 pick in the past nine drafts is Quenton Nelson. He has been a Pro Bowl selection every year of his career but hasn’t necessarily elevated the Colts or their offense the way other positions might.
10. TIGHT END
Total picks: 9
Top-10 picks: 2
Top-five picks: 1
Highest pick: Fourth overall (Kyle Pitts in 2021)
Most/least: Three in 2017; none four times
Perhaps the success of Brock Bowers last year will help, along with top prospects like Tyler Warren and Colston Loveland in the upcoming draft, but this is a position largely ignored at the top of the draft. It’s hard to find recent success stories here — Dalton Kincaid has four touchdowns in two seasons, Kyle Pitts has 10 in his four seasons. Others like T.J. Hockenson and Noah Fant were traded before their rookie deals were up, with only middling success with second teams.
11. SAFETY
Total picks: 13
Top-10 picks: 1
Top-five picks: 0
Highest pick: Sixth overall (Jamal Adams in 2017)
Most/least: Three three times, none four times
Kyle Hamilton is a strong exception, but first-round safeties haven’t yielded much return for the teams that drafted them in the rare instances you can find one. Hamilton is the only safety to go higher than 20 in the past five drafts, and the most prominent before him — Minkah Fitzpatrick and Jamal Adams — saw their original teams move on from them quickly. There were no safeties in the first round last year, though this year features promising prospects in South Carolina’s Nick Emmanwori and Georgia’s Malaki Starks.
12. CENTER
Total picks: 6
Top-10 picks: 0
Top-five picks: 0
Highest pick: 18th overall (Ryan Kelly in 2016, Garrett Bradbury in 2019)
Most/least: Two in 2018, none five times
There’s less perceived value as you move inside on the offensive line — the position hasn’t had a player taken in the top half of the first round since … Mike Pouncey went 15th in 2011. There are what look to be success stories in recent picks like Tyler Linderbaum and Graham Barton, but this is a position that doesn’t register a value until later in the first round, if then.
Greg Auman is an NFL Reporter for FOX Sports. He previously spent a decade covering the Buccaneers for the Tampa Bay Times and The Athletic. You can follow him on Twitter at @gregauman.
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