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Factoid

Bumper crop of guards

Three selected in the first round

Jonathan Cooper, Chance Warmack and Kyle Long could provide instant help to a trio of struggling lines.

It's rare to see NFL teams use first-round picks on guards. Normally, that's a position where you can get by with a less-heralded player. You can bring guys in off the street to play guard.

The Seahawks, most notably, used rookie J.R. Sweezy at guard last year. He played defensive line in college.

But when a player is something special, teams will make an exception, and it's an outlier year. The Cardinals selected Jonathan Cooper 7th, and the Titans picked Chance Warmack 10th. The Bears followed that up with Kyle Long at 20. In the last 20 years, only six other guards have been selected with top-20 picks.

(One of those, Branden Albert, played guard at Virginia but moved to tackle before his first NFL preseason game.)

Guards might be on the uptick slightly, because this is the third year in a row they've been selected in the first round. The 49ers picked Mike Iupati in 2010; he's been good. The Eagles took Danny Watkins in 2011. And the Steelers and Bengals selected David DeCastro and Kevin Zeitler last year.

GUARDS SELECTED IN FIRST ROUND, 1994-2013
YearPkPlayerTeam
20137Jonathan Cooper Cardinals
201310Chance Warmack Titans
199710Chris NaeoleSaints
199514Reuben BrownBills
200815Branden AlbertKansas City
201017Mike Iupati49ers
200117Steve HutchinsonSeahawks
200419Vernon CareyDolphins
201320Kyle Long Bears
199621Pete KendallSeahawks
201123Danny WatkinsEagles
200623Davin JosephBuccaneers
199623Jeff HartingsLions
201224David DeCastroSteelers
199625Jermane MayberryEagles
199826Alan FanecaSteelers
201227Kevin ZeitlerBengals
200729Ben GrubbsRavens
200230Kendall SimmonsSteelers
199730Ross VerbaPackers
200532Logan MankinsPatriots

--Ian Allan

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