2015 NFL Draft: Former Colts Wide Receiver Bill Brooks to Announce Team's Second Round Pick

In recent years, the NFL has added a cool feature to the NFL Draft in which former players announce their franchise's second round pick.  Two years ago it was former left tackle Tarik Glenn announcing the Colts' second round pick, and then last year it was former wide receiver and Ring of Honor member Marvin Harrison.  This year, another former Colts' receiver who is in their Ring of Honor will announce the team's second round pick: Bill Brooks.

This according to FOX59's Mike Chappell:

Ex-#colts WR Bill Brooks will announce team's 2nd-round draft pick May 1 as part of NFL promotion of former players. Good for Bill.

— Mike Chappell (@mchappell51) April 23, 2015

Drafted by the Colts in the fourth round of the 1986 draft out of Boston University, Brooks was one of the few standouts of the Colts' early teams in Indianapolis.  He played seven seasons with the Colts, playing in 106 games (starting 98) and catching 411 passes for 5,818 yards and 28 touchdowns, averaging 14.2 yards per reception.  After seven years in Indy, he spent three seasons with the Bills, catching 155 passes for 1,959 yards and 18 scores (and he helped them make the Super Bowl in the 1993 season), and then he concluded his career by playing one season with the Redskins, totaling 17 receptions for 224 yards.

At the time he finished playing for the Colts, he was easily one of the greatest receivers in franchise history.  He finished with 411 receptions for the Colts, which at the time ranked second only to Raymond Berry in franchise history (and since surpassed by Marvin Harrison and Reggie Wayne).  He led the team in catches in four seasons and he had six straight years with at least 50 receptions, and both of those marks were franchise bests at the time (but since passed by Harrison and Wayne).  He also ranked fourth in receiving yards and seventh in receiving touchdowns at the time he left the Colts after the 1992 season.  And not only did he succeed on the field, but Brooks was also a great influence off-the-field in the community and set an example.  He did things the right way and was one of the few players that could easily have been considered a fan favorite during the early years of the Colts in Indianapolis.

Next Friday evening, Bill Brooks will be the one to announce the Colts' second round pick (currently 61st overall), and it's amazing to reflect on how different the Colts' franchise is now compared to when Brooks was playing.  When he played, the Colts were consistently among the worst teams in the league, and now they've been consistently among the best for the last 15 years.  Peyton Manning and then Andrew Luck will do that to a franchise, and now the Colts are winners on the field.  But before that happened, there was Bill Brooks, and he succeeded both on and off the field and endeared himself to Colts fans - enough so that, in 1998, he was inducted into the Ring of Honor.  And so, for the second year in a row, a former Colts standout wide receiver who is in the Ring of Honor will announce their second round pick.