By position: QB | RB | WR | O-line | DE | DT | LB | CB | S | Study wrap

Their behavior is almost as skittish and self-serving as that of wide receivers. They are, of course, cornerbacks, and a good one can lock down half the field (see Deion Sanders, Champ Bailey).

Success criteria, first-round cornerbacks

As with safeties, this is a tough one to figure. With teams consistently going away from a player like Bailey, interception numbers don't tell the whole story. That said, we've gone with the baseline 80 games played, or at least one Pro Bowl appearance. And for players who are fairly new to the league, we'll use a combination of stats accrued to this point and gut feelings about the player.

Deion Sanders is, of course, Deion Sanders -- a Hall of Famer who often led the league in interceptions, punt-return yardage and purple suits. He wasn't big on the tackling aspect of playing defense, but he didn't really have to be. Woolford was a solid (36 career INTs) contributor in Chicago as well.

Remember Williams and Smith? Neither do I. Two first-rounders, two busts.

Pickens goes down in history as a colossal bust, from a franchise that had many in this era (remember Aundray Bruce, Mike Pritchard and Steve Broussard?). Clark barely sneaks over the bust bar with 84 career games.

T-Buck was supposed to be the second coming of Neon Deion, which never quite worked out -- however, he did carve out a very long career as a journeyman CB. Smith played more than 100 games, all with the Cowboys, and Dale Carter went to four Pro Bowls.

Lots of corners here, and not a Pro Bowl -- or a bust -- among them.

Glenn was the class of this class. Washington and Burris, while unspectacular, both enjoyed long careers as starters, though Langham was probably a reach at No. 9 overall.

Two completely different players -- one a small guy from a small school, the other a big corner from a big program. Both have had good careers with four-time Pro Bowler Law arguably a future Hall of Famer.

Harris once had T-shirts printed to the effect of "two-thirds of the world is covered by water, the other one-third is covered by Walt Harris." Perhaps it should have read: "Occasionally, one-third of the NFC Central is covered by Walt Harris." He was just OK. Ditto for Molden, who didn't do much as a Saint and, for a No. 11 overall, comes dangerously close to bust status.

This was the year of the corner, with six guys off the board in the first. Unfortunately, only Springs has even come close to living up to the hype. Westbrook was a big disappointment for a Detroit organization that knows a lot about big disappointments. Knight, Booker and Canty were all busts as well. Sam Madison and Ronde Barber went later in this draft. Coincidentally, Westbrook and Booker were teammates at El Camino High in Oceanside, Calif. While it's no secret, it's worth mentioning that the Falcons and Cardinals have really drafted horribly through the years.

Woodson thinks he may be the greatest corner to ever play the game, but he's actually just pretty good. Starks has been a solid player, and McQuarters has had his moments for several teams now -- but more importantly, he may have launched the "dreadlocks so long they cover half of my jersey" trend among NFL corners.

This will go down as a banner year for CBs. Bailey is considered the best corner in football, and McAlister and Winfield are very good as well. The only disappointment in this group is (cue ABBA) Bryant, who plays for, you guessed it, the Lions.

After a slow (read: bad) start, O'Neal has rebounded a bit with the Bengals. This draft brought us Hank Poteat and David Macklin in later rounds, as well as one of my favorite NFL names, Anthony Midget. The question that haunts all of us, though, is, "Where have you gone, Rashard Anderson?"

According to Fred Smoot, we would be remiss if we failed to mention that Fred Smoot came out of Round 2 of this draft. And for what it's worth, there have been two Will Allens (both DBs) and two Chris Cantys in the NFL.

Buchanon covers more like Pat Buchanan, and is on to his second team. And the other Miami corner, Mike Rumph, has been a disappointment as well. Sheppard, on the other hand, is a Pro Bowler. Jammer really hasn't lived up to top-five billing.

Newman had the unfortunate pleasure of dealing with the psychological roller-coaster ride that is playing for Bill Parcells -- hopefully he can still live up to his top-5 status. Asomugha may always be remembered for being one of the Raiders' many "who is that guy?" picks, but he has quietly played well of late.

Crunching the Numbers: First-Round CBs, 1989-2003
Number of CBs drafted: 52

Notable busts: Bruce Pickens, Bryant Westbrook, Tom Knight, Rashard Anderson

Number of busts: 15

Bust percentage: 29 percent

Number of CBs with at least one Pro Bowl appearance: 12

Pro Bowl percentage: 23 percent

Teams with multiple busts: 49ers, Lions, Falcons

For the sake of comparison
Percentage of first-round S busts: 11 percent
Percentage of first-round LB busts: 16 percent

Conclusions
Cornerback proved to be a riskier proposition than safeties or linebackers. We've seen more CBs go in the first round of late, with teams hoping for the next Champ Bailey or Deion Sanders -- but we haven't necessarily seen an uptick in performance. In fact, many of the league's great corners in recent years, such as Ronde Barber and Sam Madison, came out of later rounds.

Ted Kluck is not a scientist, rather he is the author of three books, including "Facing Tyson: Fifteen Fighters, Fifteen Stories" (Lyons Press 2006) and a full-fledged draft geek. He recently spent a season playing professional football as a member of the Battle Creek Crunch (GLIFL) where he was, without a doubt, a bust.