Indianapolis Colts

Given that the Colts' leading returning rusher in '99 is Peyton Manning, with 62 yards, it's fair to ask, Is Indianapolis nuts for trading Marshall Faulk? After all, Faulk earned his third Pro Bowl appearance last season with a career-high 1,319 yards rushing. Throw in Faulk's franchise-record 86 receptions for 908 yards, and he ranked sixth in NFL history in yards from scrimmage in a season. Faulk represented an extraordinary 43.5% of the Colts' total offense in '98, the most by any player in the league.

However, team president Bill Polian chose to overlook those numbers and concentrate instead on the fact that even with Faulk's output, Indianapolis still ranked 26th in the NFL in rushing, averaged just 3.9 yards per carry, performed miserably in short yardage situations and, most important, finished with a 3-13 record. Therefore when Faulk brazenly informed the Colts shortly after the '98 season that he planned to hold out during training camp to demand a renegotiation of his contract that had two years remaining, Polian decided Faulk wasn't worth the hassle. Two days before the draft, Polian shocked Colts fans by trading the franchise's second alltime leading rusher to St. Louis for the bargain price of two draft picks: a second-rounder and a fifth-rounder. "The trade was easy," Polian insists. "Why do you want to endure an acrimonious holdout that takes the focus away from trying to win?"

Colts fans took some solace in the fact that at least they could replace Faulk with Heisman Trophy running back Ricky Williams. Then Polian stunned the locals again by passing on Williams in favor of Edgerrin James, a player whose name he had never mentioned publicly before the draft. Polian was true to his motto, What's popular isn't always right, and what's right isn't always popular. Alas, Polian couldn't escape an acrimonious holdout after all: The sad irony was that James was taken over Williams in small part for his perceived signability, yet Williams was among the earliest first-rounders to come to terms, while James was one of the last, arriving 20 days late for training camp.

Admitting that choosing James over Williams was the toughest decision of his career, Polian says he did so because he wants Manning to remain the focal point of a pass-oriented offense, and he also believes that James is a better receiver than Williams. Polian hopes the 6-foot, 216-pound tailback, who rushed for 1,416 yards and caught 17 passes at Miami last season, can develop into a bigger, tougher version of Faulk. Coach Jim Mora acknowledges the obvious burden on James to fare well in the inevitable comparisons. "There's going to be a lot of pressure on Edgerrin to measure up to the history of Faulk and the potential of Williams," Mora says. "Sometimes young guys don't think like that, and as long as he doesn't struggle early...."

Nobody is more eager for James to establish himself than Manning, who admits that he leaned heavily on Faulk during an impressive rookie season when he set franchise records for passes, completions and passing yards, and was the only quarterback in the league to take all of his team's offensive snaps. Manning's confidence increased with each game. In his first nine starts he threw 12 touchdowns and 18 interceptions, but over the final seven games he tossed 14 touchdowns and only 10 interceptions; Colts coaches are plotting to continue that positive trend with a simplified offensive scheme. "I think this year we have a better feel for which plays work," Manning says. "We've decided to be really good at two or three plays rather than average at 10 plays."

Mora hopes to relieve some strain on the offense with the free-agent additions of defensive ends Chad Bratzke and Shawn King, veteran linebacker Cornelius Bennett and safety Chad Cota, who will bolster a defense that ranked 29th in the NFL last season. The defensive overhaul and the trade of Faulk signal a fresh start in Indianapolis. The Colts have only six players older than 30 on their roster, only 17 players remaining from the team that Polian inherited in December of '97 and only eight left from the '95 AFC Championship Game in which the Colts were a bobbled Hail Mary away from the Super Bowl. Following another playoff appearance in '96, the franchise has won just six of its last 32 games and has endured two straight seasons of 13 defeats.

Indianapolis was the only team not to reach the playoffs from the robust AFC East in '98, so Mora's goal is at least to "close the gap" between the Colts and the rest of the division this season. To accomplish that, James must begin to prove that he's better than both Faulk and Williams. Then perhaps Polian can be both popular and right.

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