Hate parity?  Then draft like the Colts

By Anthony Bialy  |   Sunday, March 16, 2008  |  Comments( 0 )

Indianapolis Colts
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Parity is a nice way of saying that teams are only supposed to be so good for so long. The artificial limits the NFL places upon its franchises are designed to drag everyone back to the excessively huge and mediocre pack after a handful of prosperous seasons. But the Colts don’t play along.

Indianapolis has now made the playoffs for six straight seasons; that’s the longest streak in the league, one ahead of the Seahawks and, predictably, the Patriots. The Colts have gotten to the postseason eight of the past nine chances, including of course winning all its games that one year. In a sport that basically puts restrictor plates on its teams, how have they done it?

Importantly, they’ve drafted well late. This squad has stayed at or at least near the pinnacle through a combination of not only obviously deciding to add the right players with its first pick every year but also by doing so late in the round, not to mention by making wise decisions about whom they don’t add. The most obvious example is the quarterback they took in 1998 and the one they left on the board, but other examples spring to mind, too.

While it’s too early to judge entire recent classes, the past three seasons have seen the Colts get contributions from their end-of-the-round additions. For one, they already enjoyed a strong performance from Anthony Gonzalez, who didn’t let the fact he was the first round’s last pick slow him down.

The thirtieth overall pick from the year before, Joseph Addai is already an indispensable component of the offense to the point where he was a Super Bowl MVP candidate, while Marlin Jackson, chosen at 29th in 2005, started eight games during the championship season and all of them last year with a largely fair showing. It’s easy for a perennially rotten squad to pick up contributors chosen early in the draft’s first round each season, but the Colts do so with players they add close to dinnertime.

For example, after trading away their first-rounder in 2004, the franchise didn’t get its first turn until the 44th overall pick, where they settled for the biggest difference-maker in the game in Bob Sanders. They had a selection in the initial round the previous April, which means that they didn’t have to wait as long to get a franchise stud that season; still, adding Dallas Clark as late as they did at position 24 was a stupendous transaction.

The team’s restraint was best on display in 2002: it would have been tempting for them to add another skilled offensive player, especially with wideouts like Donte’ Stallworth and Ashley Lelie still available. Instead, they added Dwight Freeney when their turn came around.

Most thought Freeney would be very good, but Indianapolis got a fantastically elite game-changer out of the deal; the teams ahead of him who drafted players like David Carr, Joey Harrington, and the unspeakably horrid tackle Mike Williams probably thought Freeney was a reach at 11, while those who added the wideouts later thought they stole players from an oblivious Indianapolis brain trust. Yeah, it didn’t really work out that way.

The acquisitions list is impressive going over a decade into the past: Reggie Wayne at 30th in 2001, Rob Morris, a player who contributed for eight seasons and made 471 total tackles before being released last month, at 28th the year before, Edgerrin James over Ricky Williams in 1998, decade-long mainstay at tackle Tarik Glenn buried at 19th in ’97, all-time great Marvin Harrison as the fourth receiver taken in 1996 instead of the still-available all-time pretty good Eric Moulds- it just goes on. Their track record of outstanding decisions and great value for players taken in the mid-to-late first round or later is how Indianapolis not only got to the top but has stayed there.

After trading this year’s top pick last April in order to move up and nab gifted lineman Tony Ugoh, the Colts aren’t scheduled to add a player until turn 59 next month. But is anyone worried? As long as Bill Polian has influence over the Colts, they are one team that doesn’t need to lose three to seven as many times games as they win just to move up and get a quality player with their first selection.
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