Then GM Bill Polian used his first pick in the 1998 draft to take Peyton Manning. While Polian has had a few good picks since, it has been mostly downhill from there.
I think it is too soon to take a look at the 2010 and 2011 drafts so I will start our analysis with the 2009 draft.
2009
1 27 Donald Brown RB Connecticut – Brown has been a failure. He has started only 11 games in 3 years and has been cut once. He is not fast enough to be a franchise back and has had fumbling issues.
2 56 Fili Moala DT USC – This was a reach on my board. Moala was an under achiever at USC and has started 31 games in the last 3 years but has only 38 solo tackles in his NFL career.
3 92 Jerraud Powers DB Auburn – He has started every game in which he was healthy. He has missed 14 games in 3 years. He has only 5 interceptions but has made 170 tackles.
4 127 Austin Collie WR Brigham Young – I liked Collie at BYU and this was a nice pick. He was drafted as a slot guy and has had 172 catches with a 10.7 yard per catch average and 16 TDs.
4 136 Terrance Taylor DT Michigan – Taylor was a serious reach and has not played in any regular season games.
Polian also took Curtis Painter QB Purdue as their backup QB in the 6th round and we all saw how that turned out.
2008
The Colts traded their 1st round pick to SF for their 2nd round pick in 2007.
2 59 Mike Pollak G Arizona State – Pollak has started 41 games in the last 4 seasons including all 13 games in which he was healthy in 2008. But every time the Colts could get him out of the lineup they have. He has not played well enough to keep the starting job he was given.
3 93 Philip Wheeler OLB Georgia Tech – He has started 24 games but has not been productive. He has just 2 sacks and 2 picks in his career.
4 127 Jacob Tamme TE Kentucky – He has started 14 games in his 4 years with 92 catches for 855 yards. For a 4th round pick this was not bad pick.
2007
1 32 Anthony Gonzalez WR Ohio State – Gonzo started just 12 games in his 5 years and has spent far more time in the training room than on the field. He had 94 catches in his first 2 years but only 5 in the last 3 seasons.
2 42 Tony Ugoh T Arkansas – They took Ugoh to be the LT for the team and traded their 2008 1st round pick to get him. He started 27 games in his first 3 years at Indy but has now been cut by 3 teams. He did not have the feet to be LT and did not drive block well enough to be RT.
3 95 Dante Hughes CB California – Hughes played in 24 games in Indy with 0 starts in his first 2 seasons. He was cut in 2009 and signed by the Chargers.
3 98 Quinn Pitcock DT Ohio State – Pitcock played in just 9 games in his NFL career. Enough said.
4 131 Brannon Condren DB Troy State – Condren played 8 games for the Colts and was cut. He is out of the league.
4 136 Clint Session LB Pittsburgh – Sessions started 35 games in 4 years in Indy. He left as a free agent in 2011 and signed with Jacksonville. In 5 years he has 2.5 sacks and 4 picks.
2006
1 30 Joseph Addai RB Louisiana State – Addai has averaged under 4 yards a carry in 2009 and 2011 the last 2 years in which he played a majority of games. He has gained a total of 4,400 yards in 6 years and has spent a lot of time in the training room.
2 62 Tim Jennings CB Georgia – In 4 years with Indy Jennings started just 21 games. He went to the Bears in 2010. He had just 4 picks in Indy. This was not a great 2nd round pick.
3 94 Freddie Keiaho LB San Diego State – He played for 4 seasons for Indy and was out of the league in 2010.
Those were not good drafts. The reason that Indy fell so far in 2011 without Peyton Manning was directly because the Polians failed to stock the team with quality guys from the draft. That in my opinion is enough reason to fire them.
That is what I think. Tell us what you think.
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Bill Smith is a former coach of several semi-pro teams, has done color on radio for college football and basketball and has scouted talent. He edits Fryingpansports.com. He is a senior writer for Nfldraftdog.com. He has also published several novels on eBooks-Library.com/Contemporary/ and a non-fiction work at Merriam-press.com/.