Which positions did NFL teams focus on in the 2018 NFL Draft? We can use the Football Perspective Draft Value Chart to answer that question pretty easily for the first 224 picks (all picks after that have been excluded, since they have a draft value of zero). For example, here is how much Draft Value was spent on each quarterback taken:

Now, in the abstract that may not mean much: is 132.8 points a lot or a little? So we need to compare quarterbacks to all other positions. Longtime readers may recall that I crunched these numbers in 2016 and last year, but decided to switch the position designations this time around. For defense, I am combining 4-3 defensive ends and 3-4 outside linebackers — basically anyone whose primary job is to be a pass rusher — into “Edge” players. I am also then combining DTs, NTs, and 3-4 DEs — i.e., all interior defenders — into the label “DT/DE” which excludes 4-3 defensive ends. For linebackers, I decided to just group all linebackers together, since 3-4 OLBs are already labeled as “Edge” players, and the differences between 3-4 ILBs, 4-3 OLBs, and MLBs is not worth separating. The graph below shows the amount of draft capital spent on all positions in the 2018 Draft:

Now the first thing that might stand out to you is how balanced this is: the majority of the positions are in the 120-155 range.  But I think it makes more sense to analyze things based on how many players at each position are on the field on a given snap.  This involves some estimating, of course, but here are the rough numbers I used: 1.0 QBs, 1.2 RBs, 2.5 WRs, 1.3 TEs, 2.0 OTs, 2.0 Gs, and 1.0 C on offense.  For defense, I used 2.0 Edge players, 2.4 DT/DEs, 1.8 LBs, 2.5 CBs, 2.3 Ss, and 0.3 P/Ks (we need to come up with some value here).  You can quibble with the ratios — I will provide the full data at the end of this post for you to do with it what you like — but here are the per snap results using those numbers:

Quarterbacks now stand out as the most important players in the draft, which makes a lot of sense.  A ton of draft capital was spent on quarterbacks, with four selections in the first ten picks.  And we know the conventional wisdom is that quarterback is the most important position and that the NFL is becoming a more pass-happy league.

But with that obvious exception, the 2018 Draft really resembles a draft from about 20 years ago.  The fact that the running back position comes in second is very noteworthy: this was a great draft to be a running back, and teams seem to be either placing more of an emphasis on running backs (I’m skeptical) or prefer to find a running back in the draft rather than free agency (my hunch).

It was a good draft for non-pass rushing linebackers, too: four went in the first round, a fifth in the second, and five more in the third round. Teams need these players to stop the run, despite the conventional wisdom that non-pass rushing linebackers are less important than say, cornerbacks.

As further evidence of the league shifting an emphasis to the running game is how weak this draft was for wide receivers. No wide receivers went in the top 20 picks, and while this wasn’t quite as bad for WRs/TEs as 2016, the fact that it took pick 40 for the third wide receiver to go off the board is pretty bad for the offensive position that sees the most snaps.

Finally, the table below shows the first 224 players in the 2018 Draft, their position (as identified by me), and their draft value. Feel free to change whatever you like: the data is yours.