Why Can’t the Colts Just Draft a Left Tackle?

Given all the hand wringing about the offensive line, and seeing as how most of the problems trace back to the terrible tackle play the Colts have gotten out of Charlie Johnson and Ryan Diem, I thought it would be interesting to see where elite tackles come from in the draft.

I made a list of all the Pro Bowl tackles in the NFL since 2007.  There are 15 of them (not distinguishing between right and left).

Of the 15, 9 of them were drafted in the first round.  7 of the 9 were taken in the first ten picks, and NONE of the first round picks were taken lower than 19th.

Of the other 6, 5 were second round picks and one (Jason Peters) was an undrafted free agent.  The second round picks were all taken between spots 38-50 of the second round.

In 2007, the next tackle off the board after Ugoh was James Marteen at pick 67 in the third round.

In 2008, there were no tackles taken after pick 26 (BEFORE the Colts would have drafted) until pick 68 in the third round.

In 2009, the Colts took Moala at 56, but could have selected Sebastian Volmer or William Beatty.  Had they passed on Don Brown, they could have had Phil Loadholt or Eben Britton.

In 2010, they could have taken Saffold at the end of the first round or Charles Brown instead of Angerer.

In terms of drafting quality tackles that’s the extent of the Indianapolis choices.  If you are wildly in love with one of those players, then you think Indy made a mistake.  

There are basically six total tackles the Colts could have had but passed on.  I’ll be honest, no one on that list excites me at all.  The biggest argument might be over Hughes over Saffold at the end of this year’s first round, but I’m not sure that a rookie LT would be fairing all that much better than Charlie Johnson right now.

Of the six total tackles, only three were taken before spot 50 (Saffold, Britton, Loadholt).

Pro Bowl tackles are found at the very top of the first round.  Once in a while a guy slips deeper.

The Colts have simply drafted too low for too long to restock the tackle position.