Due to popular request, I’m expanding my look at the Colts’ drafts to include some other teams. Each day, we’ll look how the Colts, Steelers, Patriots, Eagles and Ravens drafted this decade. We’ll start with the year 2000. I’m ranking the teams based on this criteria: would you trade one entire draft for another? The team whose draft you would definitely trade the others for gets top billing.
2000 Draft:
1. Patriots
Total picks: 10
Made team: 7
Pro Bowls: 5 (Tom Brady 5)
Games Played: 368
Starters: Adrien Klemm (1 season), Gregg Randall (2 seasons), Tom Brady (8 seasons)
Best Pick: Tom Brady
Summary and grade: A+. It wasn’t that great a draft, but when you get a Hall of Fame quarterback in the fifth round, you get an A+ and win the year. The 2000 draft wasn’t great for the Patriots other than Brady, but it did add long time contributor Patrick Pass, which helped the total games stat.
2. Steelers
Total picks: 9
Made team: 7
Pro Bowls: 1 (Marvel Smith)
Games Played: 392
Starters: Burress (5 seasons), Smith (9 seasons), Hagaans (4 seasons)
Best Pick: Marvel Smith
Summary and grade: B+. 2000 was a poor draft, but the Steelers hit on two very good players in Burress and Smith. Three starters and nearly 400 games played in a weak draft is an excellent haul.
3. Ravens
Total picks: 6
Made team: 4
Pro Bowls: 3 (Adalius Thomas 2, Jamal Lewis 1)
Games Played: 264
Starters: Lewis (6 seasons), Travis Taylor (5 seasons), Thomas (5 seasons)
Best Pick: Adalius Thomas
Summary and grade: B+. Not a lot of volume for the Ravens, but two players taken made the Pro Bowl, so that helps offset the swings and misses.
4. Colts
Total picks: 7
Made team: 5
Pro Bowls: 1 (Marcus Washington-with Redskins)
Games Played: 305
Starters: Rob Morris (5 seasons), Washington (3 seasons), David Macklin (2 seasons), Josh Williams (3 seasons)
Best Pick: Marcus Washington
Summary and grade: B. There was no huge breakout star for the Colts in this draft, but it’s hard to argue with too many of the players selected. This simply wasn’t a great draft in general. Morris never became a star in part because the Colts switched systems, and he was ill suited to play MLB. In the end, he became a important part of the Super Bowl team.Washington was a very good player with the Colts and went on to play well in Washington. Macklin was never very good, nor was Josh Williams, but both made the team and played heavily, so that is a form of value. Even though there no huge stars in this draft, it’s hard to look back in hindsight and second guess most of the picks. Remember, the 2000 draft saw a kicker taken in the first round, and the best QB in the first round was Chad Pennington. In another year, this would be a C or a C+ draft, but considering what there was to work with, the Colts did ok.
5. Eagles
Total picks: 7
Made team: 4
Pro Bowls: 1 (Corey Simon)
Games Played: 192
Starters: Simon (5 seasons), Todd Pinkston (4 seasons), Bobbie Williams (1 season)
Best Pick: Corey Simon
Summary and grade: C+. Only four of seven picks made the team. Only three were starters, and of those, only one was ever any good. Things ended poorly with Corey Simon, thus depressing the over all quality of this draft.
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