If you’ve had a chance to check out footballoutsiders.com this offseason, you’ve noticed the stream of information has been slow, but respectable. Today, they posted an excellent article on which teams draft which positions that is most raw numbers, with some commentary.
http://www.footballoutsiders.com/2007/04/04/ramblings/nfl-draft/5047/
In breaking down the draft over the last five years, a clear picture of the Colts draft strategy forms. The Horse took more defensive backs than any team in the league. The next time you hear someone say the Colts should have paid big bucks for Nick Harper, remind them of this fact. Indy is loaded with young DBs. A whopping 14 of their 42 picks have been used on safeties and corners. Combine this info with the new article just out by Len Pasquarelli of ESPN.
In which he rightly states that the Colts, like most teams, have been evolving on defense and are looking for more classic corners instead of just cover 2 corners, and you can begin to see why drafting DBs has been such a priority. The game is changing into one in which defenses can’t do all the same things they tried even 4 years ago.
Indy has also not drafted a wideout in the last 5 years. The last WR taken by the Colts was Reggie Wayne. The article does a great job pointing out that Indy has now had a stable offensive system for many years now. This naturally leads to less of a need for turnover in the offensive personnel. Because of this, the Colts had the highest ratio of defensive to offensive players drafted in the league. The Colts don’t change systems, so they don’t have to retool. Whereas new defenses are necessary for success, stable offenses are better. As #18 said once, if the offense executes correctly, it almost doesn’t matter if the defense knows what’s coming.
Again, the data is amazingly interesting. Ah, and there is one more category the Colts lead the league in over the past five years….
WINS
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