Undrafted from Rutgers, Bill Pellington would be an excellent sign for the Baltimore Colts as he would play 141 Games starting all but one of them at Linebacker.  His peers would regard Pellington as one of the most vicious players in the game, and he would accumulate 21 Interceptions, an excellent tally for his position.  A member of Baltimore's two Championship Teams in 1958 and 1959, Pellington would be named a Second Team All-Pro in 1964, which was his final season in the NFL.

Ray Donaldson played seventeen seasons in the NFL, the first thirteen with the Baltimore/Indianapolis Colts, where he was their starting Center for twelve of them.

A complete beast at the University of Alabama, Cornelius Bennett was drafted second overall in 1987 by the Indianapolis Colts and as part of a mega-trade, would become a Buffalo Bill.   With the Bills, he would help them win four straight AFC Championships and was a five-time Pro Bowl Selection.   One of those seasons would see Bennett being named a First Team All-Pro, and he was twice named by UPI as their Defensive Player of the Year.   Securing well over 1,100 Tackles over his career, the Bills may never have won a Super Bowl during Bennett's time there, but without the defensive stalwart, they never would have had four cracks at it.   Considering his versatility as a Linebacker, he shuld have received at least a look from the powers that be.

2023 Pre-Season Rank #84, 2022 Pre-Season Rank #84, 2021 Pre-Season Rank #92, 2020 Pre-Season Rank #124.  Peak Period: 2008-12

What Joe Flacco accomplished in 2023 was inspirational.  Flacco began the season looking for work and signed with Cleveland in November on their practice squad.  He became their starter in Week 13 and had a 4-1 record, taking them to playoffs, where he performed in his first post-season game since 2014.  Flacco won the AP Comeback Player of the Year despite only playing five games. 

Flacco enters this year on a roster (Indianapolis), and though he is a backup, he is employed, has over 40,000 Passing Yards, and has a Super Bowl Ring. The Hall is unlikely, but it has been a hell of a ride and is not over yet.

A member of the 100 Sack club, Robert Mathis proved time and time over his career that he was a certified beast on the pass rush. 

Generally, we don’t really talk about the retirement of NFL Punters, or Punters in general, but we do feel compelled to mention that Pat McAfee of the Indianapolis Colts has retired.

McAfee, who is only 29, was a very popular player amongst the Colts fans, both for his skill and for his quirky personality.  He actually ranked third in jersey sales on the team.  He retired from the NFL to join the growing website Barstool Sports.

The Punter is a former two time Pro Bowler and one time First Team All Pro Selection.

While we don’t see him as a Pro Football Hall of Famer, he is eligible in 2022 and we will be profiling him once our 2022 Football Futures are up.

We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to congratulate Pat McAfee on a great career and wish him the best at Barstool Sports. 

Now maybe we should get a former Punter to work for us!

Drafted late in the First Round out of the University of Miami, Reggie Wayne was brought in to compliment Marvin Harrison.  It is safe to say that he accomplished a lot more than that.

Our work in progress of the Greatest 50 Players of each major North American franchise continues.

We are proud to present our Top 50 Indianapolis Colts, an organization with 2 Super Bowls, 2 NFL Championships and a rich history in two cities.

As always, we will give you a sneak preview of the top 5:

1. Peyton Manning

2. Johnny Unitas

3. Gino Marchetti

4. Marvin Harrison

5. Raymond Berry

The complete list can be found here and we encourage you to check it our and voice your opinions.

Up next will be the Top 50 Minnesota Timberwolves, and yes the #1 choice on that one was very easy!

Look for that soon!

We can hear the anger from some of you now.  Eric Dickerson, the Hall of Fame Running Back was not exactly the model player in terms of behavior as suspensions, attitude and decline certainly made him less of a player than he was with the Los Angeles Rams.  Still, this is a player who won the Rushing Title as a Colt and still had two First Team All-Pro Selections with Indianapolis.  That is enough to earn him a spot here.

Dickerson entered the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1999 and the Colts responded by enshrining the star into their Ring of Honor in 2013.

Duane Bickett would win the AP defensive Rookie of the Year Award in 1985 and follow that up with a Pro Bowl nod in ’87.  Bickett was a starter immediately for the Colts and he would accumulate over 50 Quarterback Sacks for the organization.

Inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1990, Ted Hendricks was with the Baltimore Colts for the first third of this career.  Hendricks would win his first of four Super Bowls with Baltimore (Super Bowl V) and went to three Pro Bowls with the team.  Hendricks, the Strong Side Linebacker had 11 picks for the Colts.  He would later be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1990.

Known mostly for at one time holding the longest Field Goal (56 Yards) in NFL history, Bert Rechichar should probably be known more for being a three-time Pro Bowl Safety who was a punishing tackler.  Rechichar recorded 24 Interceptions for Baltimore and was also a top kick returner in the league.  This is definitely one of those players who you wonder why he isn’t remembered more.

In a professional football career that was only spent in Baltimore, Dick Syzmanski was quite the versatile player, even for his era!  Syzmanski was used predominantly as a Center, a position in which he went to 3 Pro Bowls in.  However for two seasons Baltimore used him at Middle Linebacker, the first of which was the second straight NFL Title that the Colts won in 1959.

Bubba Smith would become more known for his acting career (notably as Hightower in the Police Academy movies) but for many in Baltimore he is best known as the gargantuan defender who helped the Colts win Super Bowl V.  Smith was the first overall draft pick in 1967 and his five year run also saw him make the Pro Bowl twice.

From the Marines to the NFL, Gene Lipscomb had a strange road to the National Football League, as not only was he undrafted out of college, he didn’t play in one.  Lipscomb would break in the Los Angeles Rams, but a trade to the Colts saw him hit his apex, where he would not only help the team win two NFL Championships but would make the First Team All-Pro roster twice.

A member of the Super Bowl V Championship Team, Defensive Lineman, Billy Ray Smith ended his career perfectly; on that championship win.  Nicknamed “The Rabbit” by his teammates, Smith was a defensive captain and known as one of the locker room leaders and on the field with his solid dedication to fundamentals.

This one has to be a little bit tough for Colts fans.

Marshall Faulk would leave Indianapolis and accumulate additional statistics to earn a place in Canton and a Super Bowl Ring on his finger, but it was in Indianapolis where he played his first five professional seasons.

The starting Right Tackle for the Super Bowl XLI Champions, Ryan Diem started 150 games for the Indianapolis Colts. Diem played his entire career with Indianapolis and while he was never a Pro Bowl selection he provided solid protection from the strong side for Peyton Manning.

An Indianapolis Colt for 13 of his 14 seasons in the NFL, Eugene Daniel was one of the more popular players amongst the Indianapolis fan base. While he was never a Pro Bowl selection his on-field tenacity would become legendary in the Colts locker room. Daniel still holds the record of the longest Interception Return for a Touchdown in Indianapolis history.

Arriving to Baltimore after three years with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Jimmy Orr would be a productive a Wide Receiver earning First Team All-Pro accolades in 1965. Orr finished in the top ten in Receiving Yards as a Colt three times (he had done in twice before in Pittsburgh) and led the NFL in Yards per Reception three times, two of which was when he was in Baltimore. Orr’s last game was in Baltimore’s Super Bowl V win.