it takes 3 years to build a team if you got a front office that has a clue. Draft luck sit him until you got a team around him just like Green Bay did with Aaron Rodgers.

 

-----signature-----

Ok, Aaron Rodgers was not a #1 overall pick. People are bringing up that point a lot nowadays with the Colts/Luck discussion but it's in no way equitable. You do not sit #1 overall picks on the bench.

The new collective bargaining agreement allows this though. Rookies are now pay slotted and not as hard of a hit on their teams caps as before. Manning is probably done no one has ever came back from that injury. Only reason they wont come out and say it is because its Peyton Manning. They will draft Luck and let him try to come back if he does he does but if he doesn't Luck will be taking over and in the meantime the team will start being built around Luck skill set.

 

-----signature-----

Which goes into Brandun's post. Remember, he is only a junior and everything right now is hype. Luck better be everything he is hyped to be because if he gets picked and pulls a Ryan Leaf, epic lulz are going to be had.

The Colts have two choices:

1. Trade the pick and get the chance to fill a lot of holes over the next couple of years with the haul of picks they would receive in return. This carries two big risks:

A. Peyton Manning does not recover from surgery and they are still without a quarterback.
B. They do not make good choices with the picks they net in return for the trade and they are left with no QB and no other significant return for the trade. It would look even worse if Luck turned out to be as good a QB as advertised.

2. Draft Luck WITH the expectation that he is going to sit on the bench for awhile. In this scenario there are a few different possible outcomes:

A. Peyton Manning comes back healthy enough in training camp to play. In this case he will be the starting QB for the Colts. No other team is going to trade for Manning without knowing if he can hold up for a whole season given the serious medical issues he is dealing with. If Manning makes it through the 2012 season and proves he can still be a viable QB option it opens up the chance of trading him to a team that is just a QB away from going to the next level prior to the 2013 season. Manning would probably welcome moving on because the Colts have so many other issues to deal with. That way the Colts get some return for Manning and do not have to go through a messy "divorce".

B. Manning comes back as the starter.....by some wild miracle leads the Colts deep into the playoffs and seriously delays the Colts blowing things up. This would mean Luck remains on the bench for 2-3 years while the Colts play for the moment rather than the future. (The chances of this are very small considering all the issues the Colts have on defense and that their offense around Manning is aging fast). As previous posters had said this scenario is not as bad as it would of been before the new collective bargaining agreement. If Luck has to sit on the bench for awhile he is not going to be getting the $12-$18 mill per season the #1 choice would have gotten under the old system. The Colts could afford to have both Manning and Luck on the roster.

C. Manning never fully recovers and Luck starts from Day 1.

How many did you take after the Patriots were actually caught cheating?

If the Colts were losing on purpose the NFL would be all over it.

i would be happy about the Browns picking #4....but of course that puts them right into QB controversy area again...and ffs as a Brown's fan I can't take it anymore..


Worry about the rest of the team ffs....teams with ass QBs like the steelers and ravens show you don't need superstar QBs to compete...you just need a complete team...


i do hope griffin is still there at #4....then we can trade away for 2733276 draft picks again like last year with atlanta....

make some major improvements on the defensive side of the ball...particularly a DE and/or LB that can actually stop the run and get after a QB....pick up a star WR or 2 ...and worry about a QB in the 2013 draft if it's needed....


altho i suppose there are worse things in the world than choosing griffin if he's there...

 

-----signature-----

If Bill Polian was still making the decisions then I would know that the Colts were in good hands(draft wise... the guys an idiot about always benching starters at the end of the season)

Unfortunately it's his son that has been doing the drafting lately, and he's an idiot.

Manning has been in the league for 16 years, the guy is old.

Like one of the talking heads on nfl network said "you can have 10 other studs on your team but if you dont have a serviceable quarterback, your are not going to be winning many games."

 

-----signature-----

you mean the system of dont have a backup plan for your star?

as far as tanking it goes, well, i dont know...
BUT, that is one disgusting turnaround with the loss of their QB, even though he is one of the best ever.
if manning comes back next year and they are a sub .500 team, then we have an answer...if he comes back and they are one of the top seeds, i think something could be considered fishy.

 

-----signature-----