Mel Kiper Gives Colts a D+ Grade 20 Years After Then-Indy GM Called Him Out

The Colts were low-hanging fruit for the immediate NFL Draft graders this weekend after trading away their first round pick for Trent Richardson, and Mel Kiper responded accordingly by giving the team a D+ (Insider subscription required), his lowest grade in the league.

It reminded me of one of the more delightful moments in NFL Draft history, which occurred in 1994 after Mel Kiper blasted Indianapolis for picking Marsahll Faulk and Trev Alberts instead of a quarterback like Heath Shuler or Trent Dilfer. (The team had Jim Harbaugh entrenched as starter, who Kiper categorized as good but not great.) “This is a typical Colt move,” Kiper said after the Alberts pick. “Give me a break. That’s why the Colts are picking second every year in the Draft, not battling for a Super Bowl.”

Joe Theismann gave Kiper a bewildered look, and eventually Chris Mortensen spoke with then-Colts GM Bill Tobin. “Who in the hell is Mel Kiper, anyways?” he asked. “Here’s a guy who criticizes everybody — whoever they take — he’s got the answers to who you should take, who you shouldn’t take. In my knowledge of him, he’s never, ever put on a jockstrap. He’s never been a coach, he’s never been a scout, he’s never been an administrator … Mel Kiper has no more credentials to do what he’s doing than my neighbor, and my neighbor’s a postman, and he doesn’t even have season tickets to the NFL.”

In a perfect world, someone would goad Ryan Grigson into providing us with something like that again today.