Over the last half decade there have been 25 DB’s (17 CB and 8 S) drafted in round 1 (out of a possible 159 picks...16%). This year’s first round pick of the Cincinnati Bengals, Dre Kirkpatrick finds himself following in their steps as another 1st round CB selection. So how have the previous CB’s drafted in round 1 panned out?

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Here are the CB’s drafted in round 1 since 2007.

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*Patrick Peterson was an All-Pro and Pro-Bowl selection as a punt returner, so I’ve not included him in the #’s below.

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7 total pro-Bowl selections among them (4 of those are Darrelle Revis)

6% of them have been First Team All-Pro selections as a CB (Darrelle Revis)

6% of them have been to multiple Pro-Bowls (Darrelle Revis)

24% of them have been at least 1 Pro-Bowl (as a CB)

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So about 1/4 of them have become elite enough to make Pro-Bowls, while only 1 of them has become a perennial elite stud (Revis).

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As a group they are averaging 2.5 INT’s and 39 tackles per season.

As a group they have started in 70% of the games they played in (injuries not included).

Only 4 of them (24%) were good enough to be full-season starters in their rookie years: Patrick Peterson, Kareem Jackson, Devin McCourty, Darrelle Revis

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Obviously every player is different so one can’t just say that because Mr So-And-So did XYZ that Dre will do XYZ, but all of these kids were drafted with similar grades/expectations/etc… as Dre. So it’s interesting to see how they actually turned out as a guess of what may happen with Dre.

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So taking a look at the past success of recently drafted CB’s from round 1, how does this bode for Dre Kirkpatrick?

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He’s likely got a 25% chance to be a CB starter in 2012 from day 1.

He’s likely got a 25% chance to make a pro-bowl

He will likely start in 70% of the games he plays in, being a 5th or 6th DB / Special Teams contributor in the other games.