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A luxury the Colts couldn’t afford.
Seventeen players appeared on the Colts’ injury report this week.
Not drafting a run-stopping outside linebacker [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] has contributed to the Colts’ 29th-ranked run defense. Hughes and Angerer may wind up exceptional players, but in a season the Colts needed to win, why invest in players who won’t have an every-down impact for years to come?
His picks from 1998 to 2006 are almost spotless. He took first-rounders Peyton Manning, Edgerrin James, Rob Morris, Reggie Wayne, Dwight Freeney, Dallas Clark, Marlin Jackson and Joseph Addai, all of whom made immediate impacts. The second round yielded Mike Peterson, Marcus Washington, [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] and Kelvin Hayden
There are suddenly chinks in the Polian draft armor, and it’s hard not to consider all the players the Colts passed on, such as Cincinnati linebacker Rey Maualuga or Philadelphia running back LeSean McCoy, both of whom went in the second round of 2009.
But almost everything since 2007 has been dicey. That year, Polian took injury-prone wide receiver Anthony Gonzalez in the first round and Tony Ugoh, a bust at left tackle, in the second round. The only meaningful player from 2007: hard-hitting linebacker Clint Session.
The Colts have too much talent and too much resiliency to believe they won’t still make a run at the playoffs, but they don’t have the depth. That could have been avoided.
The Colts did draft two players for their secondary: Kevin Thomas in the third round, who suffered a season-ending knee injury in minicamp, and seventh-round Ray Fisher, who was cut before the season.
The Fisher pick raises an issue: Colts president Bill [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] Polian has been misjudging players in recent years.
Justin A. Cohn

The Colts are 2-2 heading into today’s game against the NFL’s lone unbeaten team,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], 3-0 Kansas City, and have been besieged by injuries. They began the season talented but understaffed in the secondary, and the losses of safeties [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] (biceps) and Melvin Bullitt (shoulder) had them scouring the free-agent wire and elevating Mike Newton from the practice squad.
One can’t help but wonder why the [link widoczny dla zalogowanych] Colts drafted defensive end Jerry Hughes in the first round last spring. While it made some sense because Dwight Freeney and Robert Mathis are getting older, and Raheem Brock was being let go, being able to add depth to that position was really just a luxury.
The 2008 draft yielded receiver Pierre Garcon in the sixth round and several players on whom the jury is still out – linemen Mike Pollak and Jamey Richard, linebacker Philip Wheeler and running back Mike Hart.
The 2009 draft did land defensive tackle Fili Moala, cornerback Jerraud Powers and punter Pat McAfee, but does anyone yet feel Donald Brown was a good first-round pick?
Some of this might have been avoidable.
Depth problems related to draft
In the last draft, the Colts took Hughes, who is third on the depth chart at right end, has played only on special teams and was scratched from two games. The second-round pick, Pat Angerer, is a middle linebacker playing behind the Colts’ most reliable run stopper, Gary Brackett.
With the Colts’ defense woeful anyway – their 367 yards given up per game is 24th in the league – the injuries and .500 record should have fans nervous.