Random Facts about Linebackers Selected in the Top Five of the NFL Draft
by Chris Thorman on Apr 11, 2009 12:00 PM CDT
in 2009 Kansas City Chiefs Draft
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Thirty-four linebackers have been drafted in the top five selections of the NFL draft. Wake Forest LB Aaron Curry will likely be the 35th linebacker to be selected that high come April 25.
In what is more of a conversational exercise and one that I'm sure has been done before, I searched Pro Football Reference for all linebackers drafted in the first round and then I broke it down further to linebackers selected within the top five picks of the first round of the NFL draft.
Here are some random facts about those players, with the full list with more info after the jump. This will likely be my best attempt today to stave off the boredom of a holiday weekend in March.
Historical credentials
- Derrick Thomas (126.5) and Lawrence Taylor (132.5) in the top 11 in all-time career sacks
- Four Hall of Famers (Thomas, Butkus, Taylor and Bednarik)
Pro Bowls/All Pro
- 2.6 Pro Bowl average for all 34 players
- 6 players went to 8 or more Pro Bowls (18%)
- 14 players went to 0 Pro Bowls (41%)
- 14 players had at least one All Pro selection (41%)
- 4 players had 5 or more All Pro selections (12%)
Longevity
- 123 game career average for each player
- 9 players played in 160 (~10 seasons) or more games in their career (26%)
- 8 players played in fewer than 100 games in their career (24%)
Finally, here are the averages across all 34 players for a number of categories. Sacks is always going to be a bit off, because they didn't start keeping track of sacks until the early 1980s.
| All Pro | Pro Bowls | Years as Primary Starter | Career Games | INTs | Sacks |
| 1 | 3 | 7 | 123 | 7.5 | 40.5 |
More stats on all of these players are after the jump.
| Year | Pick | Player | AP1 | PB | St | G | Int | Sk | College/Univ |
| 1990 | 5 | Junior Seau | 6 | 12 | 16 | 261 | 18 | 56.5 | USC |
| 1987 | 2 | Cornelius Bennett | 1 | 5 | 14 | 206 | 7 | 71.5 | Alabama |
| 1981 | 2 | Lawrence Taylor HOF | 8 | 10 | 13 | 184 | 9 | 132.5 | North Carolina |
| 1985 | 5 | Duane Bickett | 0 | 1 | 9 | 173 | 9 | 53 | USC |
| 1984 | 3 | Carl Banks | 1 | 1 | 10 | 173 | 3 | 39.5 | Michigan State |
| 1981 | 5 | E.J. Junior | 1 | 2 | 9 | 170 | 12 | 36.5 | Alabama |
| 1989 | 4 | Derrick Thomas HOF | 2 | 9 | 11 | 169 | 1 | 126.5 | Alabama |
| 1949 | 1 | Chuck Bednarik HOF | 5 | 8 | 14 | 169 | 20 | Pennsylvania | |
| 1961 | 4 | Marlin McKeever | 0 | 1 | 9 | 162 | 9 | USC | |
| 1988 | 1 | Aundray Bruce | 0 | 0 | 2 | 151 | 4 | 32 | Auburn |
| 1993 | 4 | Marvin Jones | 0 | 0 | 9 | 142 | 5 | 9 | Florida State |
| 1968 | 5 | Fred Carr | 0 | 3 | 8 | 140 | 8 | Texas-El Paso | |
| 1982 | 3 | Chip Banks | 1 | 4 | 10 | 138 | 9 | 46 | USC |
| 1996 | 2 | Kevin Hardy | 1 | 1 | 9 | 134 | 5 | 36 | Illinois |
| 1966 | 1 | Tommy Nobis | 1 | 5 | 9 | 133 | 12 | Texas | |
| 1982 | 2 | Johnie Cooks | 0 | 0 | 7 | 128 | 4 | 32 | Mississippi State |
| 1983 | 5 | Billy Ray Smith | 0 | 0 | 7 | 126 | 15 | 26.5 | Arkansas |
| 1997 | 4 | Peter Boulware | 0 | 4 | 7 | 126 | 1 | 70 | Florida State |
| 1967 | 5 | George Webster | 3 | 3 | 6 | 119 | 5 | Michigan State | |
| 1965 | 3 | Dick Butkus HOF | 5 | 8 | 9 | 119 | 22 | Illinois | |
| 1958 | 3 | Dan Currie | 1 | 1 | 7 | 118 | 11 | Michigan State | |
| 1952 | 2 | Les Richter | 1 | 8 | 10 | 112 | 16 | California | |
| 1955 | 5 | Tom Bettis | 0 | 0 | 3 | 109 | 1 | Purdue | |
| 1956 | 4 | Bob Pellegrini | 0 | 0 | 7 | 107 | 13 | Maryland | |
| 1986 | 5 | Anthony Bell | 0 | 0 | 4 | 102 | 2 | 11 | Michigan State |
| 1991 | 4 | Mike Croel | 0 | 0 | 6 | 102 | 2 | 24 | Nebraska |
| 2000 | 2 | LaVar Arrington | 0 | 3 | 5 | 84 | 3 | 23.5 | Penn State |
| 1992 | 2 | Quentin Coryatt | 0 | 0 | 4 | 82 | 3 | 8.5 | Texas A&M |
| 1979 | 1 | Tom Cousineau | 0 | 0 | 4 | 66 | 10 | 6.5 | Ohio State |
| 1974 | 4 | Waymond Bryant | 0 | 0 | 3 | 53 | 4 | Tennessee State | |
| 2006 | 5 | A.J. Hawk | 0 | 0 | 3 | 48 | 3 | 7.5 | Ohio State |
| 1950 | 4 | Clayton Tonnemaker | 0 | 1 | 3 | 36 | 2 | Minnesota | |
| 1994 | 5 | Trev Alberts | 0 | 0 | 0 | 29 | 1 | 4 | Nebraska |
| 1987 | 5 | Mike Junkin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20 | Duke |
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Got your Bednarik right here
“We played all 60 minutes, both ways. We were ironmen not pussyfoots.”
by Official Arrowhead Pride Parade on Apr 11, 2009 12:10 PM CDT reply actions
nice work gathering numbers
Is it just me or is anyone else scared to death of spending the number 3 pick on a linebacker who has shown no ability to rush the passer. It seems the numbers show a feast or famine type of situation with lb’s this high. Though you could probably say the same for any position but what jumps out at me is almost all the busts have limited sacks and most of the hits have sack potential. I just can’t comprehend taking a lb that high and getting no pass rush ability, WE absolutely must trade down and get more picks even if we don’t get chart value. We have to add some pass rush ability somewhere and noone is worth the three and by round three the best will be gone. We must drop down and get more picks this draft has been touted as deep but not top heavy. The value will be late in round 1 thru round three.
I am so sick of hearing this "he can't pass rush" crap
He ran the fastest 40 of all LBs in the draft and just because he wasn’t asked to rush in passing situations (watching the tape, it looks like the used him as a run blitzer and pass coverage LB) doesn’t mean he can’t. Besides, we need ILBs that can stop running plays in the first 3-5 yards. We’ll be sending blitzes with the OLBs and if we run the Cardinals 4-3 under hybrid, we’ll likely free Dorsey up to do what he does best, penetrate as an under tackle, which makes having a runstuffer ILB critical since he’ll have to cover both A gaps. Curry is bigger, faster, smarter, stronger then any LB that has come out in the last decade. I wouldn’t be opposed to trading down if we can make the right deal, but if we pick at 3 and curry is still there, he is a lock.
Just because he never did doesn't mean he can either
Speed isn’t everything for a pass rusher. Jared Allens 40 time isn’t all that great. What matters is the knack for getting to the QB. Some guys have it some guys don’t.
I think you’re making Curry out to be much more than anything his play in college would indicate. Don’t get me wrong, he should be a good LB, but I think he is being grossly overblown.
Curry is bigger, faster, smarter, stronger then any LB that has come out in the last decade.
No offense but that statment is laughable. How about Lance Briggs? Patrick Willis? Damarcus Ware?
Don’t fall so in love with a guy that you think more of him than he is. You will end up being disappointed.
Also, as for adding the pass rush ability
the likely changes in our scheme will be enough to maximize the talents of who we have on the field and lead to a better, and more balanced pass rush. Dorsey was asked to draw double teams last year, but his true strength is penetrating upfield, as an UT, he’ll do that. Adding the “predator” blitzing OLB (Brian Johnston seems like he might excel at that kind of hand-down OLB position) will add an extra pass rusher in situations that warrant it. As weak as our passrush was last year, it was largely because of the Tampon-2 scheme and the lack of a marquis RDE. The system that Pendergast ran in Zona will actually maximize our personnel even more than a 3-4 or straight 4-3 base would.
When was it established that Curry couldn't rush the passer?
We understand that he’s more of a coverage OLB, beast, but when he was getting hyped everyone was billing him as a “complete” back, which we assumed included the ability to get to the QB?
Is it an every down rusher vs. a blitz rusher we’re worrying about?
If so, shouldn’t it just be a clamor for a DE vs a LB?
If you watch the highlights on Maualuga, he’s got a great inside rush. Both Rey and Curry have 9 college career sacks which coming from the ILB instead of OLB and relative conference strength might be more impressive.
That said, we’re bias, and if you’re looking for an everydown outside rusher neither really fits the bill.
by Official Arrowhead Pride Parade on Apr 11, 2009 2:10 PM CDT reply actions
I think we need true pass rushers wherever they may come from
"But what do I know, I'm AP's new assclown and I’m like an empty room with a large ECHO"
good post
one change i would make (easy to request it, maybe i should put my money where my mouth is and do it myself), would be to present the stats in a histogram. for instance # of pro bowls or total sacks, so we could see what the most common and least common career results are visually.
I messed around with a sortable table
Couldn’t figure it out just yet.
by Chris Thorman on Apr 11, 2009 6:18 PM CDT up reply actions
what I see and hear
Needs as I see them LB , DE ,RT and WR
Some say draft a LB at #3…. ok pick curry… no they say he can not rush the passer is over hyped or a few other things
Ok draft a OT …. no we have a left tackle and we would be paying LT money for a right tackle
trade down and draft a door knob who may turn out to be just as bad or as good as any player you draft at #3
to trade down we will need a team wanting to trade up …. looks like Denver and Philly are a couple of teams with multiple first round picks … what is the fair asking price for our # 3 pick ?….. 2 late first round picks and a couple of others may be a 2nd and a 3rd. ok for the sake of argument the rolls are reversed would you as the cheifs trade 2 first round picks and a couple of others for the #3 pick…. I’m not
I will eat my pick at #3 and say we draft Curry or a RT If the #3 picks solves a problem then it was worth it at any spot….
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