The Winning Formula In Indianapolis

The Indianapolis Colts are one of the best franchises in professional football and it is not an accident. The start of their success began in late December 1997 when the Colts hired Bill Polian as president of the franchise.

Bill Polian didn’t waste any time at all. Armed with the number one pick in the draft, he released his starting quarterback Jim Harbaugh and decided to build this team through the draft. This turned out to be very fortuitous for the Colts because coming out in the draft that year were two very promising quarterbacks, Ryan Leaf and Peyton Manning. The Colts used the first pick on Peyton and started to solidify the franchise over the next decade.

Peyton turned out to be as good as advertised but Bill wasn’t done yet. The next year he traded his star running back Marshall Faulk to the Saint Louis Rams and drafted Edgerrin James. With Peyton and Edgerrin in place, wide receiver Marvin Harrison became the nucleus of the Colts offense. All that remained was to use the draft to find the defense and supporting cast for the rest of the team. In the 2002 draft, Bill got standout defensive end Dwight Freeney and in the 2004 draft he drafted Bob Sanders, a safety. These picks along with intelligent free agency have built one of the most impressive rosters in the league.

The roster is only part of the equation. Bill also hired Tony Dungy as head coach and kept all the assistant coaches in place. This enabled the Colts to maintain consistency within the organization and allowed the players and coaches to develop a rapport with each other. One can only hope that other teams in the league can follow the recipe of the Colts on how to build a good and successful franchise.