Indianapolis Colts NFL Ring of Honor: Manning, Unitas, Harrison, Wayne

We're taking a look at the best four players to have ever played for each of the 32 NFL franchises. Let's reveal the four greatest Colts according to our Bookies.com algorithm...

The Colts have been in the league since 1953, when they were originally in Baltimore before they moved to Indianapolis in 1984. Winning a total of two Super Bowls, they are one of the most successful franchises in the league’s history. 

Looking ahead to the 2022 season, there is a big change at quarterback with the addition of Matt Ryan. Rookies Alec Pierce and Jelani Woods can spread out an offense that is heavily run dominant with Jonathan Taylor coming off an incredible 1,800-yard season. The signing of Pro Bowl cornerback Stephon Gilmore will help to keep this Colts defense near the top of the NFL.

When we look back at the Colts’ long history, there are many incredible players that played for the organization. With our list only naming a top four, there are some key players that missed the cut. One of the incredible talents to miss this list was Edgerrin James, who still holds the rushing record in Colts franchise history with 9,226 rushing yards. James led the league in rushing yards in his first two seasons, which landed him the Offensive Rookie of the Year award.

Our last honorable mention is Jeff Saturday, who had an incredibly long and successful career snapping the ball to and protecting Peyton Manning. He just missed out on our list.

Indianapolis Colts NFL Ring of Honor

No. 1 - Peyton Manning

Arguably the best quarterback of all time (if Tom Brady wasn’t around), Manning had one of the best careers in football history. He finished 14 of his 17 seasons with ten or more wins. 

The five-time MVP has two Super Bowls, one with the Colts and one for the Broncos. Manning led the Colts to 34 comebacks and 45 game-winning drives. He still holds the NFL record with 54 game-winning drives during his career. He ended his career leading the league in passing three times, leading the league in touchdowns four times, and he received first team All-Pro honors in seven of his seasons. 

No. 2 - Johnny Unitas

The second quarterback on this list, Unitas led the Baltimore Colts to a Super Bowl V championship in his last year with the team. Prior to his Super Bowl ring, he won MVP three times, while being selected to the All-Pro first team in five seasons. 

Unitas led the NFL in passing yards and touchdowns four times, ensuring his dominance with the Colts. While injuries plagued the last few years of his career, Unitas retired as one of the top quarterbacks in history.
 

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No. 3 - Marvin Harrison

One of the best wide receivers of all time, and for the Colts, Harrison was an unstoppable weapon for Peyton Manning. Harrison, the all-time Colts receiving yards leader, had eight straight seasons with 1,000 yards receiving or more. 

This resulted in three All-Pro first-team honors and a Pro Bowl appearance in each year. Harrison helped Manning and Reggie Wayne form a dominant offense on the way to winning the Super Bowl in 2006. Harrison finished his career with 130 receiving touchdowns, including the playoffs.

No. 4 - Reggie Wayne

Reggie Wayne, who is just 235 yards shy of the all-time receiving record for the Colts, had a remarkable career, winning a Super Bowl in the 2006 season. Wayne and Harrison were a perfect one-two punch for Peyton Manning, and Wayne also had eight 1,000-yard seasons. 

Wayne finished three seasons with double-digit TDs and ended his playoff career with 1,254 yards and nine TDs. Wayne ranks 10th all-time in both receptions and receiving yards for his career.

Methodology

To determine the Ring of Honor for the Indianapolis Colts, Bookies.com utilized the website, ProFootballReference.com to gather for each player: 

1. Career Weighted Approximate Value (Career AV)
2. Hall of Fame Monitor score

After those findings, we averaged the two data sets to develop our rankings for the players to determine the top four players included in the Ring of Honor. 

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