A lot of teams would like a redo of the 2020 NFL draft.
Jalen Hurts was drafted 53rd overall in the 2020 NFL draft and has since gone on to appear in two Super Bowls, winning his first just a few short weeks ago. The man who claimed the Super Bowl MVP had a tumultuous colligate career that saw him post impressive numbers but ultimately be replaced by Tua Tagovailoa in the second half of the National Championship game. That changed his trajectory and along with other factors, pushed him down the draft board of every NFL team. I imagine, the Indianapolis Colts are one of those teams that wish they hadn’t passed on him, so let’s see what they could have done differently.
That was the year Chris Ballard gave up a first round pick for DeForest Buckner, so the Colts were limited in their draft flexibility from the jump. While it would have been nice to have had a first round pick, it is almost impossible to argue against Buckner and what he has brought to the team from a leadership and production perspective. This seems like a move that most fans would make again given the chance.
After that, things get dicey.
Philip Rivers was the offseason prize for the Colts, and at best, he should have been seen as a two year stopgap. That draft was the perfect time to bring in a young quarterback that was going to take some time to bring up to speed. Sit him behind Rivers and let him learn and develop. The timing was ideal. The Colts had some notion of that as well as they drafted Jacob Eason in the fourth round. That obviously didn’t pan out. Hurts was already well off the board when the Colts picked Eason, so let’s see what they did before that fateful 53rd pick.
2020 was a deep wide receiver class, and many people had the Colts pegged to take someone like Michael Pittman Jr. with their first pick in the second round. Colts nation would have revolted if the Colts passed on an opportunity to draft a wideout here because they were going fast, and it was a top need of the team. Pittman has been solid, and although I would like to see more out of him at times, I have never really doubted the pick.
Moving back into the second round to draft Jonathan Taylor is where things get interesting. It is hard to criticize what Taylor has brought to the team, but running backs are simply not like quarterbacks. We saw their worth unfold two seasons ago during Taylor’s holdout drama. The market value simply isn’t the same. Obviously, the Colts were willing to be aggressive enough to go up and get him, so they had the capital and trade partner to get Hurts. Make that move, and who knows how different things might be.
The Colts would have rolled into 2020 with Philip Rivers mentoring Jalen Hurts, who could have taken over immediately that next year after Rivers retired. That would have avoided the Wentz and Ryan years and gotten the team off the quarterback carousel. They still would have had Buckner and Pittman too. Would they have found someone who would have duplicated Taylor’s output? Unlikely, but it doesn’t mean they wouldn’t have gotten close. Having a player like Hurts might have created the illusion of having a better back on the roster because of his ability to create and open up the offense for others. We will never know what could have been, but it doesn’t mean we can’t stew about it over a long offseason.
