by: Chris Sullivan
While defense wins championships, it would appear that offense wins GM's hearts. In the last fifteen drafts, 80% of the #1 picks have been on the offensive side of the ball including 8 quarterbacks. This makes sense in a way -- if you're the worst team in football, it's not unlikely that you are also in need of a team leader in the form of a franchise quarterback. 17 of the Top 4 picks (28%) have been quarterbacks. The Seahawks would not be bizarro-world league-wide if they were to take a quarterback such as Mark Sanchez at #4, in other words.
Of 13 linebackers taken in the top 10 picks (that's 8.7%), only 3 have been picked in the top four picks overall. Wide recievers lead the ranks in top 10 picks but are fourth with top 4 picks. What does all this mean? NOTHING. But I do find little bits of data like this interesting. Digest as wish.
| 1994 - 2008 | TOP 10 | TOP 4 | TOP 1 |
| QB | 21 | 17 | 8 |
| RB | 17 | 7 | 1 |
| WR | 23 | 8 | 1 |
| TE | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| OT | 17 | 10 | 2 |
| C/G | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| DT | 14 | 4 | 1 |
| DE | 20 | 9 | 2 |
| LB | 13 | 3 | 0 |
| DB | 20 | 2 | 0 |
| OFFENSE | 83 | 42 | 12 |
| DEFENSE | 67 | 28 | 3 |
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