Quote:
Originally Posted by patteeu
It was obviously the right pick, but it's not obvious whether it was lucky or a result of superior drafting skill. Same with the Luck pick, which was made by an entirely different regime than the Manning pick, btw.
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I disagree because the Colts and Bill Polian had the choice to either draft Manning or Ryan Leaf and IIRC it was not an easy, shoe-in decision. Lots of pundits and draft experts were hyping the potential of Leaf and the limitations and problems of Manning (Manning had a much lower ceiling, not a strong armed QB, etc.).
So, there was absolutely a huge and conscious decision to take Manning over Leaf so it was indeed superior drafting. That was the Colts front office saying "we are taking Manning, even IF Leaf has more upside."
As for Luck and RG3, there was not nearly as big of a question about taking Luck over RG3 but there was still lots of people who said that RG3, much like Leaf, had more long term "upside" and potential to develop and blossom into a phenom later down the road. However, pretty much everyone agreed that Luck was a "can't miss" pick.