25 Years Later: Drafting of Peyton Manning Put Colts on Indianapolis Map
Analysis 4/19/23
This is the 25th anniversary of the Indianapolis Colts’ selection of Tennessee quarterback Peyton Manning as the top overall pick of the 1998 NFL Draft. In the second of two installments, Bill Polian — the Colts’ general manager at the time — discusses Manning’s impact on football in Indianapolis and compares choosing at the top of the draft then and now.
Part I: Decision to Pick Manning over Leaf
In terms of what the choice to draft Peyton Manning ultimately meant, because of who Peyton is, it affected the very locale and life of the franchise.
Without Peyton Manning, without his dedication to and involvement in the life of the community, without the magnetism of his personality and his commitment to being a full-fledged citizen of Indianapolis, the franchise and football in the state wouldn’t be where it is today.
Let me give you an example. When we got there, the Indianapolis Colts were fifth in the pecking order in sports in Indianapolis. It surprised me, but it was a fact. Indiana University basketball was first. The Pacers were a close second because the citizens of Indianapolis had actually saved that franchise by pitching in their dimes and dollars before the Simon family bought the team. Indiana high school basketball was third. The Indianapolis 500 and all of the legendary people that surround that race was fourth, and then last were the Colts.
There were a lot of NFL fans in Indiana before Peyton’s arrival who rooted for the Chicago Bears or the Detroit Lions because their games were televised locally. In two years, Peyton changed all of that. They finally had their own hero, their own Johnny Unitas, their own homegrown star who enhanced the community, embraced the sport, and epitomized the best of what sports of any stripe should be. There are many youngsters in Indianapolis named Peyton born during the time Manning was playing.
The first thing he did when Peyton came to town was to fund an eight-team quadruple-header in the RCA Dome on the opening week of high school football. It was called The Kickoff Classic, and it elevated the status of Indiana high school football overnight. Now, Indiana turns out about three times as many Division I prospects as it had before Peyton arrived.
In addition, high school football in Indiana – with the playoffs staged at Lucas Oil Stadium – rivals high school basketball, which was never the case before Peyton came along. He also invested an incredible amount of time and money in creating Peyton Manning Children’s Hospital, associated with the St. Vincent’s Hospital System. To this day, it’s still an incredible and wonderful part of the community.
'The House Peyton Built'
Finally, the Colts franchise was considering a move unless we could get a new stadium. Whether it was to Los Angeles or somewhere else, only owner Jim Irsay knew. When Peyton came along, he created a whole new generation of fans. He changed the whole culture surrounding the franchise, and that, of course, affects politics. Many community leaders would probably be the first to tell you Lucas Oil Stadium would not have been built if it wasn't for Peyton. When people talk about it as “The House that Peyton Built,” that’s absolutely true.
Obviously, it takes Robert Mathis, Dwight Freeney, Marvin Harrison, Edgerrin James, Reggie Wayne, Dallas Clark and many others to win championships. Football is the ultimate team game. But when it comes to creating community interest, involvement and passion, one overarching personality can do that. And in football, it’s usually the quarterback.
The phrase “face of the franchise” is bandied at about this time of year. It’s completely untrue with respect to about 80 percent of the players to whom it is applied, particularly rookies. In Peyton Manning’s case, from Day 1, it was 100 percent applicable, and it only grew exponentially over time because of his commitment to Indianapolis and the state of Indiana.
Similarities to 2023 Draft
Are there any significant differences between when we made a quarterback the No. 1 overall pick and the Carolina Panthers being poised to do so this year? If you look at it from the club's perspective, I don't think so.
Frank Reich, the Panthers’ coach, was a quarterback for us with the Buffalo Bills and Panthers. He and I talked when he first got the job in Carolina. He asked me a similar question. I said, “Just follow the process. Follow the process all the way through. Block out the noise because the people who make the noise don’t have the information you have, either from an experiential or factual standpoint. Block out the noise, and lead the organization through the process. At the end of it, you will make the right decision for your team.”
The ability to compile the kind of background information we did with the Manning-Leaf decision is still there. In fact, if anything, it’s gotten easier to do because of technology, but the information is still the same. The testing has become a little bit more sophisticated, but not overly so. There are no breakthrough tests. There’s no Rosetta Stone out there that tells you Player A is going to be a great quarterback and Player B isn’t. You still have to make value judgments based on what you see from the test results.
The workout situation is the same. The ability to connect with college coaches is the same. The agents still play the same role, which is basically cheerleader and hype master. I’m not knocking agents; that’s what they’re paid to do.
So, you just need to orchestrate the process as a leader. Go through it; make sure every I is dotted and every T is crossed. Then, make an unemotional decision based on the data as to who you think is the best pick for you. I don’t think any of that has changed.
Pressure of No. 1 Pick
Despite the NFL’s overwhelming growth in the last 25 years and the fact it draws far more attention and scrutiny than ever, I don’t think the pressure to get the No. 1 overall pick right is any greater. I may be a dinosaur, but social media means nothing to me in terms of judging players. I don’t say that either tongue-in-cheek or in a denigrating fashion. It just doesn’t because it doesn’t deal with facts.
There’s obviously more noise, but if you don’t pay attention to it, it’s not there. In judging players, I’ve never paid any attention to it. It can have an effect on your team during the NFL season. But it doesn’t in terms of judging players.
Whether it’s 1998 or 2023, if you miss on the No. 1 pick, it’s not good for your career. You’re dealing with facts, not emotions. You’ve got to get it right. That’s what they pay you to do and if you don’t, the likelihood is you’re not going to keep doing your job very long.
You just have to live with that. It's an occupational hazard.
As told to Vic Carucci
Bill Polian is a former front office executive and a six-time Executive of the Year award winner who won Super Bowl XLI with the Indianapolis Colts. Polian's career as an executive earned him an induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2015.