List of Indianapolis Colts first-round draft picks

Peyton Manning, first overall pick of the 1998 draft

The Baltimore Colts joined the National Football League (NFL) in 1953 where they participated in their first NFL draft and selected Billy Vessels, a halfback from the University of Oklahoma. The team's most recent first-round selection was Kwity Paye, a defensive end from Michigan in the 2021 NFL draft.

Every year during April, each NFL franchise seeks to add new players to its roster through a collegiate draft officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting but more commonly known as the NFL Draft. Teams are ranked in inverse order based on the previous season's record, with the worst record picking first, and the second worst picking second and so on. The two exceptions to this order are made for teams that appeared in the previous Super Bowl; the Super Bowl champion always picks last, and the Super Bowl loser always picks second last. Teams have the option of trading away their picks to other teams for different picks, players, cash, or a combination thereof. Thus, it is not uncommon for a team's actual draft pick to differ from their assigned draft pick, or for a team to have extra or no draft picks in any round due to these trades. ^[1]

The Colts have selected the number one overall pick in the draft on seven separate occasions, one of which was used to select Super Bowl XLI MVP Peyton Manning. They have also selected the second overall pick five times and the third overall pick twice. The team's five selections from Ohio State University are the most chosen by the Colts from one university.

Key

Table key

^	Indicates the player was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
*	Selected number one overall
†	Indicates the player was selected for the Pro Bowl at any time in their career.
—	The Colts did not draft a player in the first round that year.
Year	Each year links to an article about that particular NFL Draft.
Pick	Indicates the number of the pick within the first round
Position	Indicates the position of the player in the NFL
College	The player's college football team

Player selections

2003 Colts 1st round pick Dallas Clark

2002 Colts 1st round pick Dwight Freeney in the Pro Bowl

1996 Colts 1st round pick Marvin Harrison

2001 Colts 1st round pick Reggie Wayne

Indianapolis Colts first-round draft picks

Year	Pick	Player name	Position	College	Notes
1953	2	Billy Vessels	HB	Oklahoma
1954	5	Cotton Davidson	QB	Baylor
1955	1 *	George Shaw	QB	Oregon	[2]
	3	Alan Ameche  †	FB	Wisconsin
1956	9	Lenny Moore  ^	HB	Penn State
1957	8	Jim Parker  ^	G	Ohio State
1958	11	Lenny Lyles  †	CB	Louisville
1959	12	Jackie Burkett	C	Auburn
1960	10	Ron Mix  ^	OT	USC
1961	7	Tom Matte  †	RB	Ohio State
1962	9	Wendell Harris	CB	Louisiana State
1963	5	Bob Vogel  †	OT	Ohio State
1964	8	Marv Woodson  †	S	Indiana
1965	14	Mike Curtis  †	LB	Duke
1966	15	Sam Ball	OT	Kentucky
1967	1 *	Bubba Smith  †	DE	Michigan State	[3]
	20	Jim Detwiler	HB	Michigan
1968	23	John Williams	OT	Minnesota
1969	25	Eddie Hinton	WR	Oklahoma
1970	18	Norm Bulaich  †	RB	Texas Christian
1971	22	Don McCauley	RB	North Carolina	[4]
	26	Leonard Dunlap	CB	North Texas
1972	22	Tom Drougas	OT	Oregon
1973	2	Bert Jones  †	QB	Louisiana State	[5]
	10	Joe Ehrmann  †	DT	Syracuse
1974	5	John Dutton  †	DT	Nebraska
	24	Roger Carr  †	WR	Louisiana Tech	[6]
1975	3	Ken Huff	G	North Carolina	[7]
1976	20	Ken Novak	DT	Purdue
1977	26	Randy Burke	WR	Kentucky
1978	25	Reese McCall	TE	Auburn
1979	6	Barry Krauss	LB	Alabama
1980	5	Curtis Dickey	RB	Texas A&M
	24	Derrick Hatchett	CB	Texas	[8]
1981	12	Randy McMillan	RB	Pittsburgh
	18	Donnell Thompson	DE	North Carolina	[9]
1982	2	Johnie Cooks	LB	Mississippi State
	4	Art Schlichter	QB	Ohio State	[10]
1983	1 *	John Elway  ^	QB	Stanford	[11]
1984	8	Leonard Coleman	CB	Vanderbilt
	19	Ron Solt  †	G	Maryland	[12]
1985	5	Duane Bickett  †	LB	USC
1986	4	Jon Hand	DE	Alabama
1987	2	Cornelius Bennett  †	LB	Alabama
1988	—	—No Pick	—	—	[13]
1989	22	Andre Rison  †	WR	Michigan State
1990	1 *	Jeff George	QB	Illinois
1991	—	—No Pick	—	—	[14]
1992	1 *	Steve Emtman	DE	Washington
	2	Quentin Coryatt	LB	Texas A&M	[15]
1993	16	Sean Dawkins	WR	California
1994	2	Marshall Faulk  ^	RB	San Diego State
	5	Trev Alberts	LB	Nebraska	[16]
1995	15	Ellis Johnson	DT	Florida
1996	19	Marvin Harrison  ^	WR	Syracuse
1997	19	Tarik Glenn  †	OT	California
1998	1 *	Peyton Manning  ^	QB	Tennessee
1999	4	Edgerrin James  ^	RB	Miami (FL)
2000	28	Rob Morris	LB	BYU
2001	30	Reggie Wayne  †	WR	Miami (FL)
2002	11	Dwight Freeney  †	DE	Syracuse
2003	24	Dallas Clark  †	TE	Iowa
2004	No pick (traded to Atlanta Falcons, used to select Michael Jenkins)				[17]
2005	29	Marlin Jackson	CB	Michigan
2006	30	Joseph Addai  †	RB	LSU
2007	32	Anthony Gonzalez	WR	Ohio State
2008	No pick (traded to San Francisco 49ers, used to select Kentwan Balmer)				[18]
2009	27	Donald Brown	RB	Connecticut
2010	31	Jerry Hughes	DE	TCU
2011	22	Anthony Castonzo	OT	Boston College
2012	1 *	Andrew Luck  †	QB	Stanford
2013	24	Björn Werner	DE	Florida State
2014	No pick (traded to Cleveland Browns, who then traded it to Philadelphia Eagles, used to select Marcus Smith)				[19]
2015	29	Phillip Dorsett	WR	Miami (FL)
2016	18	Ryan Kelly  †	C	Alabama
2017	15	Malik Hooker	S	Ohio State
2018	6	Quenton Nelson  †	G	Notre Dame
2019	No pick (traded to Washington Redskins, used to select Montez Sweat)				[20]
2020	No pick (traded to San Francisco 49ers, who then traded it to Tampa Bay Buccaneers, used to select Tristan Wirfs)
2021	21	Kwity Paye	DE	Michigan
2022	No pick (traded to Philadelphia Eagles, who then traded it to New Orleans Saints, who then traded it to Washington Commanders, used to select Jahan Dotson)
2023	4	Anthony Richardson	QB	Florida

Notes

1. Alder, James. "NFL Draft Basics:Determining Order of Selection". football.about.com. Retrieved 2008-01-14.
2. Lottery bonus pick.
3. Acquired from the New Orleans Saints – Pro Football Draft History 1967
4. Acquired from the Miami Dolphins – Pro Football Draft History 1971
5. Acquired from the San Diego Chargers – Pro Football Draft History 1973
6. Acquired from the Los Angeles Rams – Pro Football Draft History 1974
7. Acquired from the Atlanta Falcons – Pro Football Draft History 1975
8. Acquired from the Dallas Cowboys – Pro Football Draft History 1980
9. Acquired from the Minnesota Vikings – Pro Football Draft History 1981
10. Acquired from the Los Angeles Rams – Pro Football Draft History 1982
11. Traded Elway to the Denver Broncos for QB Mark Herrmann, rights to OL Chris Hinton and a first-round pick in the 1984 NFL Draft. – A 'true test' for Elway Archived 2008-02-06 at the Wayback Machine
12. From Denver Broncos in Elway trade
13. The Colts traded their #20 overall pick to the Los Angeles Rams – Pro Football Draft History 1988
14. The Colts traded their #13 overall pick to the Atlanta Falcons – Pro Football Draft History 1991
15. Acquired from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers – Pro Football Draft History 1992
16. Acquired from the Los Angeles Rams – Pro Football Draft History 1994
17. The Colts traded their #29 overall pick to the Atlanta Falcons – Pro Football Draft History 2004
18. The Colts traded their 1st round pick (29th overall) to the San Francisco 49ers
19. Colts First Round Pick? Essentially, it's Trent Richardson -
20. 2019 NFL Draft trade tracker: Details of all the moves

References

• "databasefootball.com – IND Colts". databasefootball.com. Archived from the original on January 19, 2008. Retrieved January 13, 2008.
• "Indianapolis Colts (1984-Present)". Sports E-cyclopedia. Retrieved January 13, 2008.
• "Hall of Famers by Franchise". Pro Football Hall of Fame official Web site. Archived from the original on December 27, 2007. Retrieved January 13, 2008.
• "NFL Draft History: First Round by Team: IND Colts". National Football League official Web site. Retrieved January 13, 2008.
• "Professional Football Transactions Archive". NC Systems website. Archived from the original on November 7, 2007. Retrieved January 13, 2008.