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.
The Ravens edge out the Colts for the top slot in 2006, thanks in part to the fact that several of the starters for the Colts were real weak links and/or role players in recent years. Ngata was a great first pick, and the Ravens had more depth and production than the Colts from the year.
1. Ravens
Total picks: 10
Made team: 8
Total Games Played: 344
Total Pro Bowls: 1 (Haloti Ngata-1)
Best pick: Ngata
Starters drafted: Haloti Ngata (4 seasons), Chris Chester (2 seasons), Dawan Landry (3 seasons), Quinn Sypniewski (1 season), Sam Kotch (4 seasons)
Summary and Grade: A. An excellent year for the Ravens. They nailed both depth and quality. Ngata has become a feared tackle on excellent defenses. They edge the Colts this year just by a whisker, thanks to more starters and more games played.
2. Colts
Total picks: 7
Made team: 7
Total Games Played: 306
Total Pro Bowls: 2 (Addai-1, Bethea 1)
Best pick: Antoine Bethea
Starters drafted: Addai (3 seasons), Tim Jennings (1 season), Keiaho (2 seasons), Charlie Johnson (2 seasons), Antoine Bethea (4 seasons)
Summary and Grade: A. This was a crazy deep draft loaded with great players, but how can you criticize four starters (two of whom made Pro Bowls)? The worst pick was Keiaho who turned out to just be ‘a guy’ and cost the Colts a chance at a number of Pro Bowl caliber players. The Colts got more games played out of this draft than out of any of the previous four. That’s remarkable considering that four of those players are still with the team and accumulating games. This was the draft that put the Colts over the top and on to the Super Bowl. This is also one of only two Indy drafts of the decade (to date) to produce two Pro Bowl players.
3. Eagles
Total picks: 8
Made team: 7
Total Games Played: 288
Total Pro Bowls: 0
Best pick: Brodrick Bunkley
Starters drafted: Brodrick Bunkley (3 seasons), Winston Justice (1 season), Chris Gocong (3 seasons), Max Jean-Giles (1 season), Omar Gaither (2 seasons)
Summary and Grade: B- No real star power for the Eagles, but they did managed to get a pile of games, and five different players managed to crack the starting line up. Unfortunately, none of them have become more than average players. Bunkley was measured to have had a nice season upfront by Pro Football Focus, but at the end of the day, there hasn’t been a lot to write home about for the Eagles from 2006.
4. Steelers
Total picks: 9
Made team: 4
Total Games Played: 163
Total Pro Bowls: 0
Best pick: Santonio Holmes
Starters drafted: Santonio Holmes (3 seasons), Anthony Smith (1 season), Willie Colon (3 seasons)
Summary and Grade: C+. Holmes is developing into a Pro Bowl caliber player, and Willie Colon is the starting right tackle, so that’s two valuable players. Unfortunately for the Steelers, this goes down as one of the thinnest drafts I’ve looked at. They haven’t gotten any ‘playing time production’ out of any of the other picks.
5. Patriots
Total picks: 10
Made team: 7
Total Games Played: 242
Total Pro Bowls: 1 (Gostowski-1)
Best pick: Stephen Gostowski
Starters drafted: David Thomas (1 season), Stephen Gotowski (4 seasons)
Summary and Grade: C. The Vinateri for Gostowski swap worked for the Pats. Nothing else in this draft did, least of all first round pick Laurence Maroney, who was taken before more accomplished backs. Gostowski and Maroney are the only players from this draft still with the team.
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