Q: In 2008, how many starting RTs were drafted in the first round?

A: According to pro-football-reference.com's starter depth chart, 9.

Vernon Carey (Dolphins, #19 in 2004)
Damien Woody (Jets, #17 in 1999 by Patriots)
Willie Anderson (Ravens, #10 in 1996 by Bengals)
Marc Columbo (Cowboys, #29 in 2002 by Bears)
John Tait (Bears, #14 in 1999 by Chiefs)
Gosder Cherilus (Lions, #17 in 2008)
Jeff Otah (Panthers, #19 in 2008)
Levi Brown (Cardinals, #5 in 2001)
Alex Barron (Rams, #19 in 2005)

Naturally, as a Vikings fan I'm looking at this vis a vis the potential of the Vikings drafting Eben Britton in the first round. Looking at it like this, we can almost eliminate most of these names.

Woody, Anderson, and Tait are all vets who have long moved off their original positions (Woody was a center in the day, the other two were LTs)

Columbo and Brown are LT busts, playing RT by default.

Carey's sort of unique. He had been promoted to LT in 2007, but then the Dolphins drafted Long and he moved back to RT. So it's tough to say how much of that is due to Carey's limitations, or the fact his team sprung for a guy considered a franchise talent.

That leaves Cherilus, Otah, and Barron as potential comparisons. These guys were drafted in the 1st round as RTs, or at least 2nd-best OTs. Cherilus is maybe on the fence with that statement, but he was never considered an elite pass protector as a prospect, and was maybe caught up in the OT hullaballo last draft. Otah and Barron were drafted into situations with well established/regarded starters (Gross and Pace) at OT. Outside of these two (or three), it seems the 1st round RT is a rare beast.

Now, the tricky part is I believe RT is maybe the team's biggest need. They absolutely, positively cannot whiff at that position in this draft, not unless they want to fall back on game-but-overmatched Artis Hicks. From that perspective, Britton is an intriguing choice. More than anything, the 1st round isn't necessarily about difference makers or franchise-calibur talents (although you take them when they're there), it's about consistently finding good starters. If Britton lives up to some of his comparisons (Michael Roos, Eric Winston, Jon Runyan), he'd be well worth the #22 pick.

OTOH, this quick and dirty (and hardly infallible) ditty of analysis suggests the vast majority of teams get by finding RTs later in the draft. And if the Vikings do their homework and/or get lucky and pick the right guy out of the 2nd-tier group with guys like Jamon Meredith, Troy Kropog, and Gerald Cadogen, they don't need to burn their first pick to address a problem. (Or they hope a guy like Oher falls, who has a chance to boot McKinney over to the right side.)

I'm honestly torn on this. Given the team needs playmakers, maybe they should hold off on OT til later. But as I said, they cannot whiff on the O-lIne. It's really that bad/thin. And regardless of what position you're discussing, your chances of finding starters decrease substantially the further down the draft you go. Guess we'll see.