I read a very good fanpost tonight by fellow chiefs fan market maker. It was about past defensive tackles and 3-4 defensive lineman that have been drafted in the 1st round and the success rate of those lineman/if they were worth their pick. You can read it here The case against DT/NT/3-4DE in Round 1.

After reading this piece it got me interested and made me raise the question, "What is the success rate for 1st round offensive lineman?" I, like many of you, would like the Chiefs to draft Stanford Guard David DeCastro, but would he be worth the pick? So I looked up the offensive lineman whom were drafted in the 1st round in every draft since 2001.

*Names in bold are the linemen who I believed to be worth their 1st round pick

2001- T Leonard Davis, T Kenyatta Walker, G Steve Hutchinson, T Jeff Backus
2002- T Mike Williams, T Bryant McKinnie, T Levi Jones, T Marc Colombo, G Kendall Simmons
2003- T Jordan Gross, T George Foster, C Jeff Faine, T Kwame Harris
2004- T Robert Gallery, T Shawn Andrews, G Vernon Carey
2005- T Jamaal Brown, T Alex Barron, C Chris Spencer, G Logan Mankins
2006- T D'Brickashaw Ferguson, G Davin Joseph, C Nick Mangold
2007- T Joe Thomas, T Levi Brown, T Joe Staley, G Ben Grubbs
2008- T Jake Long, T Ryan Clady, T Chris Williams, T Branden Albert, T Goster Cherilus, T Jeff Otuh, T Sam Baker, T Duane Brown
2009- T Jason Smith, T Andre Smith, T Eugene Monroe, C Alex Mack, T Michael Oher, C Eric Wood
2010- T Trent Williams, T Russell Okung, T Anthony Davis, G Mike Iupati, C Markice Pouncey, T Bryan Bulaga
2011- T Tyron Smith, G Mike Pouncey, T Nate Solder, T Anthony Castonzo, T James Carpenter, T Gabe Carimi, T Derek Sherod

So of 54 offensive lineman taken in the 1st round since 2001 in my opinion 24 of them deserved their first round pick. This comes out to be approx. 44%. According to market maker, 20.4% of defensive lineman deserved their first round pick. Now obviously opinions are going to vary so these numbers may be slightly off but its a general figure.

Now obviously I'm doing this to prove that Decastro is worth the pick so I am going to exclude tackles and only look at interior lineman. Of 14 interior lineman taken in the 1st round, I consider 8 to be good picks. The percentage jumps up to 57%. Not to mention that David Decastro is most comparable to Hall of Famer Steve Hutchinson. So with the 11th selection in the 2012 NFL Draft the Kansas City Chiefs should select OG David Decastro.