Quote:
Originally Posted by rm1369
I remember being pissed that Polian didn’t take the ridiculous amount of picks Ditka gave up to get Williams, but I don’t remember being pissed at the ultimate selection of James over Williams. Certainly everyone thought Williams would come off the board first, but it’s not like James was considered a major reach. He was known as a top prospect in the draft and was comfortably considered a top 10 pick. I remember Freeney being considered more of a reach than James was.
While I ultimately agree with your point about overreaction, I’ll definitely comment and express my pleasure or displeasure. Might as well go on record with what you think. And I don’t think Ballard has done anything for me to have faith in. It’s his second draft and we don’t have a good sense of his first one. I’m cautiously hopeful about his talent evaluation but he has to have a real resume before there is anything to have faith in.
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You make good and fair points. However, while you personally may not have been upset about the selection of James, I recall that draft vividly and the Colts nation was largely not happy. Recall that the Colts had just traded Marshall Faulk away, and Williams was being pumped by virtually every media outlet. James was far less well known (and maybe didn't have the track record of Williams, I can't recall right now and I'm too lazy to look it up - wasn't he a Junior?). This was in the time period that RBs were routinely taken in the top 5, and most draft projections had the Colts taking Williams. He was touted as a golden boy who played the game the right way. I recall concerns about the size of Williams hands, and the Colts liking James better because of his pass-catching skills. The Saints and Ditka bought into the William hype, the Colts did not.
My recollection of Freeney is a bit different. He was undersized and considered a reach, but he was picked somewhere in the early teens so there wasn't as much national attention paid to the pick. I recall reading that the Colts had the opportunity to trade down to the late teens (where Freeney was had been projected to be picked), but Polian ultimately decided not to do it because the were afraid someone else would have grabbed him. Again, the move was panned at the time, and ultimately the Colts were proven right.
You make a fair point that Ballard doesn't yet have the track record of Polian (very few do), but I'll simply respond by saying he doesn't have a Ditka track record either. Ballard's first draft looks promising and, as I think I've made clear in other posts, I like the guy's overall approach so I'm inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt. As in most endeavors, you don't get anywhere in the NFL by following the pack, and people who take a different approach can do great things when it turns out they're right - and I'll go on record as saying I think Ballard is right.