Colts: Homegrown (1 Viewer)

[the hairy scotsman]

I'm not a Colts fan in particular, but I thought this was pretty wild...

21 of 22 offensive and defensive starters on the Colts were either drafted by Indy, or undrafted signees who have never played for another NFL team.

QB - Peyton Manning

RB - Joe Addai

TE - Dallas Clark

WR - Reggie Wayne

WR - Marvin Harrison

WR - Brandon Stokely / Aaron Moorehead (both career Colts)

OL - Tarik Glenn

OL - Rob Lilja

OL - Jeff Saturday

OL - Jake Scott

OL - Ryan Diem

DE - Robert Mathis

DT - Anthony McFarland

DT - Raheem Brock

DE - Dwight Freeney

LB - Rob Morris

LB - Gary Brackett

LB - Cato June

CB - Nick Harper

FS - Bob Sanders

SS - Antoine Bethea

CB - Jason David

Booger McFarland is the ONLY Colt non-ST starter who has ever played for another team.

Amazing.

Talk about saying something for your front office that your team can be so good year and year out with players you draft or sign as rookies...Especially when every year teams sign hoards of FA talent in an attempt to make a Super Bowl run.

 

[The Shizzle]

They just can't afford any free agents with Manning's contract status.

 

[the hairy scotsman]

They just can't afford any free agents with Manning's contract status.

That very well could be.Regardless of the reason why, it's still pretty impressive and a testament to the talent evaluation abilities or "coaching up" abilites of your organization if you're able to be so consistently good with your own guys.

 

[Snotbubbles]

Stokely played for the Ravens.

McFarland played for the Bucs.

Raheem Brock was an Eagle, until he got cut and signed by the Colts.

 

[djcolts]

They just can't afford any free agents with Manning's contract status.

Actually, it has more to do with the Colts' philosophy of preferring to sign its own free agents rather than signing other team's free agents than Manning's contract.

 

[the hairy scotsman]

Stokely played for the Ravens.McFarland played for the Bucs.Raheem Brock was an Eagle, until he got cut and signed by the Colts.

Stokley started 1 game in '06.I already noted that McFarland played elsewhere.Good point on Brock...so it's 20 of 22.

 

[redman]

They just can't afford any free agents with Manning's contract status.

Actually, it has more to do with the Colts' philosophy of preferring to sign its own free agents rather than signing other team's free agents than Manning's contract.

I'm not so sure that's true. They've let a lot of talent leave in FA, especially on the defensive side of the ball (and most notably at LB). I think they operate a lot like the Steelers do in that they sign/draft and develop young talent, and resign only the handpicked few of their players while letting the other ones leave in FA to be replaced by new, young talent. It speaks highly of their stability as an organization and their talent evaluation system that they've been so successful with this system.

 

[johnnybronco]

Stokely played for the Ravens.McFarland played for the Bucs.Raheem Brock was an Eagle, until he got cut and signed by the Colts.

Stokley started 1 game in '06.I already noted that McFarland played elsewhere.Good point on Brock...so it's 20 of 22.

I'll always remember Stokley for that impressive catch against the Giants in the Superbowl. I can't really define him as a homegrown Colt.

 

[switz]

They just can't afford any free agents with Manning's contract status.

They don't need to because they have a tremendous GM in Polian.

 

[redman]

They just can't afford any free agents with Manning's contract status.

They don't need to because they have a tremendous GM in Polian.

While better in the playoffs, their overall defensive performance suggests otherwise.

 

[ffball-novice]

Stokely played for the Ravens.McFarland played for the Bucs.Raheem Brock was an Eagle, until he got cut and signed by the Colts.

Brock was drafted by the Eagles in late rounds, but I don't believe they ever reached agreement on contract. Colts gave up a draft choice I think for rights to him.Jeff Saturday was cut by Ravens and signed as free agent after spending some time as a salesman. Another lineman Lilja sp? was cut by KC nad signed as Free agent.Reagor is on IR but was signed as a free agent, formerly with Denver

 

[phthalatemagic]

They just can't afford any free agents with Manning's contract status.

Wow... that took an entire ONE post!How do the Patriots do it, with Brady's contract?

 

[Guzalot]

They just can't afford any free agents with Manning's contract status.

Wow... that took an entire ONE post!How do the Patriots do it, with Brady's contract?

There's always a Manning hater. I dare you to find a post involving the Colts without one.

 

[Boston]

I despise Polian but he's an excellent GM. Free agency is fun for the fans but building a team thru the draft is almost always the way to go. One other plus here is these players basically only know one system. Therefore they hit the ground running every year and don't have to lose habits they obtained somewhere else.

This offseason will be interesting for the Colts. They have limited cap space and a decent amount of free agents. They have a great shot of getting a ring this year but have their work cut out for them this offseason if they want to get back to the big dance again.

 

[switz]

They just can't afford any free agents with Manning's contract status.

They don't need to because they have a tremendous GM in Polian.

While better in the playoffs, their overall defensive performance suggests otherwise.

performance <> talenttalent is the responsibility of the GMperformance is the responsibility of the coach

 

[PMENFAN]

They just can't afford any free agents with Manning's contract status.

They don't need to because they have a tremendous GM in Polian.

While better in the playoffs, their overall defensive performance suggests otherwise.

performance <> talenttalent is the responsibility of the GMperformance is the responsibility of the coach

And therein lies the key to the Colts success. They have virtually 0 turnover in the coaching ranks. I don't know how they do it. Why does nobody ever make a run at Tom Moore for a NC job? Maybe I missed it, but did he run an ad and say he was the OC in Indy forever? Obviously he runs a good system, but he's been there forever, they're usually out of the playoffs early, but he's never talked about as a HC candidate. Maybe the playoff collapses? On the D side, I can see nobody taking the coaches, but longetivity brings success. I give Dungy credit. Most years his units have stepped up in the playoffs. That's what teams are supposed to do. Look at these tenures. All but two coaches have been there at least 5 years. Granted it's Mostly Dungies Staff. Compare that with somebody like the Broncos, Pittsburgh, NE or other rather successful franchises. Franchises that win lose assistants, but not the Colts. It's just always amazed me. NAME POSITION YEARS WITH COLTS Tony Dungy Head Coach 5 Jim Caldwell Asst. Head Coach / Quarterbacks 5 Clyde Christensen Receivers Coach 5 Leslie Frazier Special Asst. to the Head Coach / Def. Backs 2 Richard Howell Assistant Strength Coach 7 Gene Huey Running Backs Coach 15 Ron Meeks Defensive Coordinator 5 Pete Metzelaars Offensive Quality Control 3 Tom Moore Offensive Coordinator 9 Howard Mudd Offensive Line Coach 9 Mike Murphy Linebacker Coach 9 Russ Purnell Special Teams Coach 5 Diron Reynolds Defensive Quality Control 5 John Teerlinck Defensive Line Coach 5 Ricky Thomas Tight End Coach 5 Jon Torine Strength and Conditioning Coach 9 Alan Williams Defensive Backs Coach 5

 

[redman]

They just can't afford any free agents with Manning's contract status.

They don't need to because they have a tremendous GM in Polian.

While better in the playoffs, their overall defensive performance suggests otherwise.

performance <> talenttalent is the responsibility of the GMperformance is the responsibility of the coach

I trust we can agree that the two are not mutually exclusive, no?

 

[The Jacket]

Extremely flawed.

As previously noted, more than a couple Colts have played elsewhere -- or even, in some cases, failed to make other rosters.

That doesn't make 'em homegrown.

Ryan Lilja couldn't make the Chiefs roster behind Pro Bowlers Will Shields and Brian Waters. While they'd like to have him back now, the Colts lucked out that he was cut due to being behind such quality starters.