So if the Colts are horrible...
 

I've been pondering what would happen if the Colts are so bad they get the number one pick. What would you do? Let's say AR looks decent but it's not a guarantee he will reach his ceiling (note it seems AR is younger than all the top QBs coming out next year.)

You could draft Caleb Williams, then what do you do with AR?
Trade the pick for a huge haul.
Draft a non-QB position like WR or LT.

I’d trade it. A spot where we can get a Jefferson or Chase type wide receiver. Use the extra pics for oline


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If AR looks decent and the team still has confidence in his growth then you trade the pic for a ransom. If you are smart with the pics you can give AR more time to prove what he is while maintaining enough draft capital to go up and get someone else in another year or two if he fails.

You definitely trade the pick. If Richardson has a bad year you will crush his ego drafting another QB. If we are that bad that we get the top pick that means we need help in more places than QB.

This

I say that as long as AR shows improvement throughout the season and is looking at least promising by the end of the year then you trade the pick for a haul. Preferably to a team drafting in the top 5 so we can grab either Marvin Jr. or the top pass rush prospect (whoever that is).

Now if AR ends up being Josh Rosen/Zach Wilson bad with no improvement throughout the year then that might be a different story......

Realistically though I think we'll be picking in the 6-10 range.

AR would have to be REALLY bad for Jim to pull the plug after one season.

I don’t think Ballard and Steichen would under any circumstance because that would be admitting they were wrong and they don’t strike me as guys who wanna do that.

In short, I think it would take extraordinary circumstances for them to draft Williams next year.

As for my opinion, I have no idea until I see AR play.

I voted to trade the pick, assuming AR is not a bust. Trade for a couple firsts, or a first and a couple seconds to move back three or four spots. Draft MH Jr., and get another stud high in he draft.

Use the pick. What if the best player in the draft is the second coming of Lawrence Taylor or Joe Thomas or Edge?

If you think the guy is a future HOFer at a premium position then using the pick possibly makes sense. A lot depends too on who would be drafting behind us and if they need a QB or not. Ideally under this hypothetical teams picking 2-5 are all QB needy and AZ, who has Hou's #1, only has 1 of those picks. This would create a big bidding war between whoever is drafting 3-5 (and maybe whoever is drafting 2nd) where we could likely still draft that elite player at a premium position and get a haul in draft picks for trading down.

This better turn out to be a purely hypothetical question.

As noted, clearly a trade and MHJ at 2 or 3 (depending on what the landscape looks like for a team needing to get Maye, etc...[this QB class looks ridiculous right now].

If you have confidence AR can continue on an improving curve, fucking hit that dude with Randy Moss II without a doubt.

Not necessarily. We only won 3 games Peyton's rookie year, which record-wise was tied for the worst in the league. And 1 of those wins included a somewhat miraculous 4th quarter comeback vs. the Jets. So if that doesn't happen then we end up w/ the worst record in the league. Although '99 was the Browns expansion year so we would have been picking 2nd instead of 1st.

The team that Manning joined was truly the worst team in the NFL. Man we were devoid of talent. This team is not devoid of talent. This time last year people were actually thinking we were a playoff team, we just had no passing game without a QB. If we get a new head coach, new high draft choice QB and are still the worst team in the league I am not sure where we go from there. Pretty much would have to clean out a whole lot of this team. Better not happen.

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This one's easy for me ...... if the Colts are horrible, I'll keep on rooting for the Colts.

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On D we were pretty bad, but on O Manning inherited a pretty good cast: HOFers at WR and RB, a really good OL, and 2 good TEs. Thin at WR, but if EG Green had been healthy then that probably would have at least given Peyton a good WR2 and Torrance Small (had to look him up) wasn't too bad at WR3/4: 45/681/7 tds.

Our secondary wasn't too bad, but agree our DL and LBs were definitely really bad.

Too many unknowns at this point. Caleb Williams is an unknown, and history is against him as a sub 6'2" Lincoln Riley QB (Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray haven't exactly justified their #1 overall selections). Who the top QB will be is an unknown, at this time last year, Anthony Richardson wasn't on most people's radars as a top 5 pick in the 2023 NFL draft. Richardson himself is an unknown, he may look really good, he may look terrible. If he looks like the next great QB but the team around him performs poorly, that prompts a completely different course of action than if Richardson is clearly the piece holding the team back. There are too many questions that need to be answered before the question posed here can be answered.

Marvin Harrison Jr?

Ideally we could trade down a couple of spots and still get Marvin Jr. Again, depends on who would be drafting behind us and if their QB needy, etc.

Also, depends on if Williams and Maye can stay at the top and if any other QBs can rise up. Williams has been lighting it up although mostly against lesser competition. Maye really hasn't. Penix in Washington has been lighting it up as well, but again against lesser competition. Quinn Ewers will be moving up the rankings after last night, but he's a little shorter for an NFL QB w/out the elite athleticism like Williams has to offset that.

Not sure I trust your evaluation of a QB. You day Lawrence is a bust, and think Stroud is great.

To be fair to Dam, Stroud could very well become really good. Other than that I agree with you.

Shit Williams does is Mahomes level, ridiculous ability to create. Can't see how he isn't lock # 1 barring injury and I don't see us getting # 1, so I think that pick is not an issue for us. It's # 2 that will probably be most intriguing for us. If we suck that bad, man we might be able to get near Ditka level stupidity for that pick because the # 2 QB looks like it could be several franchise makers.

Maye hasn't lit it up but they are also not as talented this year, he definitely throws NFL passes and Brown runs and NFL design so he will be day 1 ready. Penix is going to be high on a lot of lists. Sanders is rapidly ascending as well- still some skepticism but some of the creation is right there with Williams and he can put some fire on the ball.