Quote:
Originally Posted by Chromeburn
Polian believed in a good center and strong tackles. He treated the guards as recyclable and would use low round picks on them. He did not find a tackle to replace Glenn. Poor left tackle play was mitigated by Manning’s quick release. This was also a different time in oline play, teams could practice longer and work on technique. Today many oline attribute the decreased practice time from the CBA as the reason for decreased oline play across the league. Also may be why teams are spending higher picks for oline because they can’t develop them like they used to.
However, I think Polian’s olines were elevated by Manning. For years Manning was the highest hit QB in the league after release. I think it’s what led to his injury and decline. Too many high picks spent on skill positions. But Polian believed in a design of having a big three on offense and a dominant pass rusher on defense.
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Yeah he did. He drafted Costanzo. He also drafted Charlie Johnson, who played for the Colts and then they lost him in free agency, cap problems.
https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/J/JohnCh23.htm
Part of it was the cap, part of it was Howard Mudd. He could work with guys like Llija and ________ and make them searvicable. But he drafted Jake Scott and we lost him to free agency. Polian was working with a tighter cap and he made his own problems when he hit on so many players.
https://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/clt/draft.htm
And remember, all that winning kept putting the Colts at the back end of the draft year after year. He hit on a bunch of late round guys who played long careers. Go look at the list. He had guys who were lost to free agency who played a long time. If there was a "failure", they should have let some guys go sooner than later, and kept the young guys.