I was reading all the hype concerning Trent Richardson lately, and the debate over whether or not RBs should be taken in the first round. It interested me, as I remember watching Shanny push so many system backs into service through the years with remarkable success. So, I decided to look up the list of first round RBs over the last decade, and see how they stack up. It was interesting - hits and misses for sure. Some big names, but a lot of very successful backs missing. Thought others might find it interesting too, so here is the list:

2002
16. William Green, Cleveland
18 TJ Duckett, Atlanta

2003
23 Willis McGahee, Buffalo
27 Larry Johnson, Kansas City

2004
24 Steven Jackson, St Louis
26 Chris Perry, Cincinnati
30 Kevin Jones, Detroit

2005
2 Ronnie Brown, Miami
4 Cedric Benson, Chicago
5 Carnell Williams, Tampa Bay

2006
2 Reggie Bush, New Orleans
21 Lawrence Malroney, New England
27 DeAngelo Williams, Carolina
30 Joseph Addai, Indianapolis

2007
7 Adrian Peterson, Minnesota
12 Marshawn Lynch, Buffalo

2008
4 Darren McFadden, Oakland
13 Jonathan Stewart, Carolina
22 Felix Jones, Dallas
23 Rashard Mendenhall, Pittsburgh
24 Chris Johnson, Tennessee

2009
12 Knowshon Moreno, Denver
27 Donald Brown, Indianapolis
31 Chris Wells, Arizona

2010
9 CJ Spiller, Buffalo
12 Ryan Mathews, San Diego
30 Jahvid Best, Detroit

2011
28 Mark Ingram, New Orleans

My conclusion? Well, this didn't sway me from my position that RBs are risky picks in the first round. Especially since the NFL is more and more about passing. And RB's have shorter careers than most other positions. And they get injured a lot, since they take a lot of hits. And with the "system back" approach that worked so well for us most of the last decade, I think I'll stay agreeing with the trend of downgrading RBs on the draft board.

I suppose it's not all that relevant for Broncos fans (since I doubt we'll pick one this year), but I found it interesting, and I hope you did as well.