Guard in the first round?

[CJD]

I have mixed feelings about guard in the first round.

We definitely need a guard and getting a premier talent in the first round feels like a great way to secure the Oline.

The problem I have is that we have needs at Edge, DT, and IOL (among others like safety, TE, RB, LB and, depending on what we do with Higgins, WR).

And, statistically speaking, it is much easier to fill guard in free agency than it is DT or edge.

Of the top 15 paid players at each position, 10 right guards and 10 left guards were signed via free agency (with 8 others drafted by the team that paid them, and 2 traded for).

Similar case for centers.

But for DTs, 12 of the 15 highest paid DTs were paid by the team that drafted them. For edge, it's 9 of the 15.

data on this is two years old but still believe in the message

you can find interior guards, linebackers and safeties in free agency but if you want receivers, offensive tackles or defensive tackles you will probably have to draft or trade for them pic.twitter.com/ky40ZUnCp8

— Tej Seth (@tejfbanalytics) February 21, 2025

So, ideally, I want to use our first round pick on a position that we can't easily sign a star in free agency. We can sign guards in free agency since they're comparably less expensive.