In the 1969 NFL Draft, 8 of the first 10 picks were used on offensive players. In total, 64% of all draft capital — according to the Football Perspective Draft Value Chart — was used on offensive players. Two years later, the first three picks were all used on quarterbacks; only 1 of the first 9, and 2 of the first 13 players selected, were on the defensive side of the ball.

As recently as 1995, the first five picks were all used on offensive players, as were 8 of the first 10 picks. But more recently, NFL teams have been much more even in their draft day gifts to offensive and defensive coordinators.

In 2016 and 2017, teams actually used significantly more draft capital on defense than on offense. This year, according to CBS, an almost perfect 50/50 split is expected. The graph below shows the percentage of actual draft capital allocated to offensive players each season, compared to the total amount allocated to both offensive and defensive players.

You might be wondering about that big dip in the 1984 Draft. For that, we can blame the USFL. The rival football league attracted many of college football’s top stars, and with that league focused on marketing, they tended to focus on the high-profile, offensive players. That year, the NFL held a separate draft for the USFL players, and the top 12 was dominated by offense. QB Steve Young, RB Mike Rozier, and OT Gary Zimmerman were the first three picks, G Mark Adickes went 5th, and QB Wayne Peace, TE Paul Bergmann, WR Joey Jones, QB Ken Hobart, RB Kevin Mack, and RB Buford Jordan all went in the top dozen. As a result, the top 16 of the regular draft was dominated by front seven players, with 10 defensive linemen or linebackers going early, along with three more defensive backs.

There is no question that the league has shifted into being more of an offensive league over the last 50 years. Which makes the draft results pretty counter-intuitive.