The best and worst draft picks in Colts history

[dw49]

Anyone here remember Ken Novak , a huge DT (6'6"  265) from Purdue ? Drafted 1.20 in 1976. They said he was fast enough to play LB. Lasted two years and never hit the stat board in the NFL. Not due to injuries , just couldn't play. That's a true bust.

[John Dee]

Baltimore problem...  not Indy..

Anyone here remember Ken Novak , a huge DT (6'6"  265) from Purdue ? Drafted 1.20 in 1976. They said he was fast enough to play LB. Lasted two years and never hit the stat board in the NFL. Not due to injuries , just couldn't play. That's a true bust.

[Pombi9]

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap1000000160737/article/indianapolis-colts-best-and-worst-draft-picks

 

Best: Peyton, Luck, Marvin, Mathis, Reg

Worst: Elway (because he didn't play for the Colts), Jeff George, Trev Alberts, Donald Brown, Anthony Gonzalez

I don't think Gonzalez should be lumped into that category. He played at a very high level until years later injuries de-railed his career.

Sure there were better picks on the board atm, but we had just let Stokley walk (and were unaware of Harrisons impending career ending injury which made it a smart pick in heinsight). There were worse picks to be made. And to be honest I think had we not picked Gonzalez we would have struggled to make the playoffs because our WR's were very weak at the time and Gonzalez stepped into Harrisons role. Which everyone seems to have forgotten about.

I would rather lump Tony Ugoh into that group before Gonzalez.

[dw49]

I don't get worst draft picks.  What about Reese McCall, Derrick Hatchett,  Art Schlichter, or Leonard Coleman?   Donald Brown has doe far more than any of them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you go back to the Reese McCall era , include Randy Burke. Also the big stiff from Purdue I mentioned in another post.

[dw49]

Baltimore problem...  not Indy..

 

 

Debatable issue. Also FYI , John Elway is mentioned more than once in this thread and he was not drafted by any team in Indianapolis. 

[John Waylon]

The whole 2007 draft, INCLUDING SESSION, was just a total farce. 

 

In my mind, though, one of the worst picks we ever made was Ugoh, for the simple fact we spent a 1st on him after blowing one on gonzalez. 

[John Waylon]

Painter by far the worst, if he was atleast a half assed qb we prolly woulda been able to go undefeated that year,but he was a complete embarassment to the qb position!!!!! and always will be. Best- heck that list could go on and on and on lol. One of my favorite players never was drafted or drafted very low(cant remember) was Jeff Herrod #54 LB

lol.

 

Just, lol.

 

A 7th round pick is our worst?

 

Gee, if only we could be so lucky. 

 

lol.

[sreylas937]

Can't remember the year, but the year the colts had the first and second picks in the first round... Can't remember who they took first but quenton coryote or how ever you spell his name with the second pick was the worst picks

[dw49]

lol.

 

Just, lol.

 

A 7th round pick is our worst?

 

Gee, if only we could be so lucky. 

 

lol

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'll be fair and not look it up ... I'm sure he was a 6th. I think the pick was not horrible as it was a late rounder. However , being a pig head and staying with this guy as long as Polian did should qualify as the worst of something. Come to think of it , Polian never did get rid of Painter.

[John Waylon]

I'll be fair and not look it up ... I'm sure he was a 6th. I think the pick was not horrible as it was a late rounder. However , being a pig head and staying with this guy as long as Polian did should qualify as the worst of something. Come to think of it , Polian never did get rid of Painter.

Ok, I'll not argue. He's a 6th. (That does sound right, actually.)

 

But you still can't parlay him into our worst draft pick no matter how you spin it.

 

In my opinion, a good draft pick isn't a top draft pick. Sure, there are exceptions. Manning qualifies as an exception to that, James does, as well. But when people say someone like Reggie Wayne or Dwight Freeney is, I say hold the phone. These guys were first round picks. They were expected to come in and be league leaders at their position. 

 

A bad pick isn't some guy who is taken late and sucks, or doesn't pan out ala painter or mike hart.

 

A bad pick is a guy who is taken early and flops ala gilbert gardner or tony ugoh.

 

Likewise, a good pick is a guy who is taken late and produces far beyond his expectation ala Robert Mathis or Vick Ballard

[GoColts8818]

Ok, I'll not argue. He's a 6th. (That does sound right, actually.)

 

But you still can't parlay him into our worst draft pick no matter how you spin it.

 

In my opinion, a good draft pick isn't a top draft pick. Sure, there are exceptions. Manning qualifies as an exception to that, James does, as well. But when people say someone like Reggie Wayne or Dwight Freeney is, I say hold the phone. These guys were first round picks. They were expected to come in and be league leaders at their position. 

 

A bad pick isn't some guy who is taken late and sucks, or doesn't pan out ala painter or mike hart.

 

A bad pick is a guy who is taken early and flops ala gilbert gardner or tony ugoh.

 

Likewise, a good pick is a guy who is taken late and produces far beyond his expectation ala Robert Mathis or Vick Ballard

Exactly like I said before Curtis Painter was never seen as a guy that would carry the franchise.  He was a late round draft pick who played like a late round draft pick. 

[colts_100nascar17fan]

Saftey mike prior was a pretty good low round undrafted type guy that played way above expectations like LB jeff herrod!

[dw49]

Ok, I'll not argue. He's a 6th. (That does sound right, actually.)

 

But you still can't parlay him into our worst draft pick no matter how you spin it.

 

In my opinion, a good draft pick isn't a top draft pick. Sure, there are exceptions. Manning qualifies as an exception to that, James does, as well. But when people say someone like Reggie Wayne or Dwight Freeney is, I say hold the phone. These guys were first round picks. They were expected to come in and be league leaders at their position. 

 

A bad pick isn't some guy who is taken late and sucks, or doesn't pan out ala painter or mike hart.

 

A bad pick is a guy who is taken early and flops ala gilbert gardner or tony ugoh.

 

Likewise, a good pick is a guy who is taken late and produces far beyond his expectation ala Robert Mathis or Vick Ballard

 

 

 

Hopefully I wasn't appearing to give it that spin. I was just making mention that Polian actually had this guy as our QB in the event that PM went down. That was the stupidity involved ... not the selection of Painter.

[SOMDColtsfan]

In Colts history..Manning - good

                        .. Art Schlichter- bad

[braveheartcolt]

If Brown was a worse draft pick than Jerry Hughes, then I am clearly missing something. Their collective contributions are poles apart. For me, during my fandom, Ugoh has been the biggest flop.  

[PrincetonTiger]

how about EG Green

[jvan1973]

ok 8 out of 21. Im not disputing his talent, Its clear he was a great player, from that perspective he was great, from a games played perspective he turned out a bust

how can a second round pick that win dpoy be considered a bust? there have been FAR bigger busts in the first round.

[jvan1973]

Can't remember the year, but the year the colts had the first and second picks in the first round... Can't remember who they took first but quenton coryote or how ever you spell his name with the second pick was the worst picks

Steve emtman was the first pick that year. both were busts, but Quinton had a much better career

[buccolts]

To me, the worst pick BY FAR was Trev Alberts.

His agent told us not to draft him as he wasn't really interested in playing in the NFL.

We took him anyway, and he was nothing spectacular for the very few years he did play.

 

Anyone else is a distant second.

 

Oh, and Emtman may have been a bust, dependent on what you consider a bust (not to me though), but he wasn't a bad pick.

[Gavin]

The Marvin Harrison pick literally saved the 1996 Colts draft class from being a flop 

[mahagga73]

To me, the worst pick BY FAR was Trev Alberts.

His agent told us not to draft him as he wasn't really interested in playing in the NFL.

We took him anyway, and he was nothing spectacular for the very few years he did play.

 

Anyone else is a distant second.

 

Oh, and Emtman may have been a bust, dependent on what you consider a bust (not to me though), but he wasn't a bad pick.

 

 

To me, the worst pick BY FAR was Trev Alberts.

His agent told us not to draft him as he wasn't really interested in playing in the NFL.

We took him anyway, and he was nothing spectacular for the very few years he did play.

 

Anyone else is a distant second.

 

Oh, and Emtman may have been a bust, dependent on what you consider a bust (not to me though), but he wasn't a bad pick.

Alberts was  pretty good when he actually played I thought . Then it came out he really didn't like the contact of playing football or something like that, and he just flat quit if I remember right. It was pretty bizarre , kind of like the Quinn Pitcock thing. Seems like he got paid a lot of dough for not much. Liked him a lot as a TV guy on college football though. Haven't heard his name in forever. Emtman was a guy everybody was going to pick 1. He was dominant in college . Your right , that was not a bad pick, just the breaks of the game when injuries took him out.

[mahagga73]

how about EG Green

He was awesome when he played , but he never did, always injured.  He was a 3rd rounder or something.

[mahagga73]

Can't remember the year, but the year the colts had the first and second picks in the first round... Can't remember who they took first but quenton coryote or how ever you spell his name with the second pick was the worst picks

Quentin Coryatt. He played several years, but never matched his college hype. He was average . Thing most memorable about him was dropping the game winning INT in the 95 Title Game against Pittsburgh. Ball hit him right in the numbers, the game would have been over. Then O Donnell threw that bomb right over Ashley Ambrose head , who was not supposed to let anyone past him.

[buccolts]

Alberts was  pretty good when he actually played I thought . Then it came out he really didn't like the contact of playing football or something like that, and he just flat quit if I remember right. It was pretty bizarre , kind of like the Quinn Pitcock thing. Seems like he got paid a lot of dough for not much. Liked him a lot as a TV guy on college football though. Haven't heard his name in forever. Emtman was a guy everybody was going to pick 1. He was dominant in college . Your right , that was not a bad pick, just the breaks of the game when injuries took him out.

 

Yeah, Alberts played well, but my recollections was it was nowhere near where we took him, and many were shocked we took him where we did.

 

Emtman: Everyone has their own definition of a 'bust' I suppose, but calling Emtman a bust is like calling Burlsworth a bust.

Makes no sense to me.

[jvan1973]

Yeah, Alberts played well, but my recollections was it was nowhere near where we took him, and many were shocked we took him where we did.

Emtman: Everyone has their own definition of a 'bust' I suppose, but calling Emtman a bust is like calling Burlsworth a bust.

Makes no sense to me.

burlsworth died before he made it here. emtman was the first overall pick that couldn't stay healthy. how are they anywhere near similar

[ponyboy]

Trev Alberts has to be high on the bad pick list because it was a high 1st round pick that didn't produce at all  (I don't remember him playing at all other than in pre-season, but maybe I'm forgetting).

 

He was taken 5th overall.  The Colts traded up to get him.  Kiper was convinced the Colts were trading up to take Trent Dilfer and was really critical of the pick (and passing on Trent Dilfer).   That's when the famous clip of the Colts GM Bill Tobin shows up on-air shortly after the pick and says something to the effect of "..who the hell is Mel Kiper... as far as I know the man has never wore a jock... and tried to tell teams how to draft..".  I actually felt bad for Mel   

[buccolts]

burlsworth died before he made it here. emtman was the first overall pick that couldn't stay healthy. how are they anywhere near similar

 

Both were good picks.

Burlsworth never had the opportunity to perform.

Emtman's did well for us in his short career that was cut very short.

Neither were due to lack of ability, lack of effort, or lack of performance.

They were both simply unable to perform.

 

I don't consider either as bad picks, or busts.

Just unfortunate situations.

 

To me, busts are Alberts, Ugoh and Coryatt.

Lack of ability, and/or effort, especially for where they were drafted.

Just bad decisions by the FO.

[ponyboy]

I think Emtman was actually playing really well before the injuries.  I don't think it was a bad pick, just bad luck.  Coryott wasn't too bad but not a great player by any stretch (I still cringe thinking about his dropped INT in the 1995 Championship game against the Steelers that would have iced the game and sent the Colts to the SB).

 

Check out the entire 1992 draft.  A really bad year.  Not many big NFL names to be found in the entire draft.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1992_NFL_Draft

[mahagga73]

Yeah, Alberts played well, but my recollections was it was nowhere near where we took him, and many were shocked we took him where we did.

 

Emtman: Everyone has their own definition of a 'bust' I suppose, but calling Emtman a bust is like calling Burlsworth a bust.

Makes no sense to me.

 

 

Yeah, Alberts played well, but my recollections was it was nowhere near where we took him, and many were shocked we took him where we did.

 

Emtman: Everyone has their own definition of a 'bust' I suppose, but calling Emtman a bust is like calling Burlsworth a bust.

Makes no sense to me.

I'm thinking Alberts was a 5 and Faulk was 1. He was injured bigtime in Nebraska's final game of the season with an injury that was considered to be potentially career threatening to his elbow or something. Sure enough I think he got hurt for the season in the first preseason game. He was a dominant college player , had like 18 sacks or something his senior year.

[mahagga73]

burlsworth died before he made it here. emtman was the first overall pick that couldn't stay healthy. how are they anywhere near similar

 

 

burlsworth died before he made it here. emtman was the first overall pick that couldn't stay healthy. how are they anywhere near similar

He's saying that neither could be considered a bust because Burlsworth passed away tragically and Emtman was just unlucky with injuries.

[mahagga73]

Trev Alberts has to be high on the bad pick list because it was a high 1st round pick that didn't produce at all  (I don't remember him playing at all other than in pre-season, but maybe I'm forgetting).

 

He was taken 5th overall.  The Colts traded up to get him.  Kiper was convinced the Colts were trading up to take Trent Dilfer and was really critical of the pick (and passing on Trent Dilfer).   That's when the famous clip of the Colts GM Bill Tobin shows up on-air shortly after the pick and says something to the effect of "..who the heck is Mel Kiper... as far as I know the man has never wore a jock... and tried to tell teams how to draft..".  I actually felt bad for Mel   

I think Tobin said his mailman was as qualified as Kiper to scrutinize draft picks or something to that effect. Tobin did a pretty good job throwing together a team that was competitive and in the playoffs a couple years but it didn't last long . He was the one that drafted Marvin though.

[mahagga73]

Both were good picks.

Burlsworth never had the opportunity to perform.

Emtman's did well for us in his short career that was cut very short.

Neither were due to lack of ability, lack of effort, or lack of performance.

They were both simply unable to perform.

 

I don't consider either as bad picks, or busts.

Just unfortunate situations.

 

To me, busts are Alberts, Ugoh and Coryatt.

Lack of ability, and/or effort, especially for where they were drafted.

Just bad decisions by the FO.

 

 

Both were good picks.

Burlsworth never had the opportunity to perform.

Emtman's did well for us in his short career that was cut very short.

Neither were due to lack of ability, lack of effort, or lack of performance.

They were both simply unable to perform.

 

I don't consider either as bad picks, or busts.

Just unfortunate situations.

 

To me, busts are Alberts, Ugoh and Coryatt.

Lack of ability, and/or effort, especially for where they were drafted.

Just bad decisions by the FO.

I will say that most people had Coryatt as a perennial Pro-Bowl player in the NFL at that time. He also got injured a lot, but played allright mostly. There was a lot of hype over him in college.

[Buck Showalter]

Ok, I'll not argue. He's a 6th. (That does sound right, actually.)

 

But you still can't parlay him into our worst draft pick no matter how you spin it.

 

In my opinion, a good draft pick isn't a top draft pick. Sure, there are exceptions. Manning qualifies as an exception to that, James does, as well. But when people say someone like Reggie Wayne or Dwight Freeney is, I say hold the phone. These guys were first round picks. They were expected to come in and be league leaders at their position. 

 

A bad pick isn't some guy who is taken late and sucks, or doesn't pan out ala painter or mike hart.

 

A bad pick is a guy who is taken early and flops ala gilbert gardner or tony ugoh.

 

Likewise, a good pick is a guy who is taken late and produces far beyond his expectation ala Robert Mathis or Vick Ballard

 

I agree especially with Manning & Edgerrin you had the Manning-Leaf debate & likewise with Edge-Ricky Williams debate, so those  are the two picks I see Polian really get right as his time as a Colts G.M...

[dw49]

I'm thinking Alberts was a 5 and Faulk was 1. He was injured bigtime in Nebraska's final game of the season with an injury that was considered to be potentially career threatening to his elbow or something. Sure enough I think he got hurt for the season in the first preseason game. He was a dominant college player , had like 18 sacks or something his senior year.

 

 

Here's what the first part of round 1 looked like.

 

 

 

 

1 Cincinnati Bengals Dan Wilkinson Defensive Tackle Ohio State 2 Indianapolis Colts Marshall Faulk Running Back San Diego State 3 Washington Redskins Heath Shuler Quarterback Tennessee 4 New England Patriots Willie McGinest Linebacker USC 5 Indianapolis Colts Trev Alberts Linebacker Nebraska 6 Tampa Bay Buccaneers Trent Dilfer Quarterback Fresno State 7 San Francisco 49ers Bryant Young Defensive Tackle Notre Dame 8 Seattle Seahawks Sam Adams Defensive Tackle Texas A&M 9

 

 

 

If I remember correctly , we traded up from 7 or 8 to draft Alberts. I recall being upset as we need a DT pretty badly and there were two good ones available if we stayed put.The word was that we did so as Miami was attempting to move up and draft him.

 

Just found the trade.....

 

 

Traded 1994 first round pick (#7-Bryant Young), 1994 third round pick (#83-James Bostic) to Rams for 1994 first round pick (#5-Trev Alberts) on 1994-04-24

[schwamm]

Am I crazy, or is this about the same thread we see every year at this time. Maybe we can all save time, and the moderators can just recirculate last years thread...

Seriously, look it up... No way anyone belongs on the same list of extreme terrible-ness as Art Schlichter. He was a busy as a player AND as a human being, and selecting him disrupted the franchise for years.

[Indyfan4life]

Gonzo hate continues. The dude was going to be amazing until he was injured, kind of like Collie.