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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 |