The Colts Have Practically Wrapped Up “Suck For Luck”, What Now
With another terrible loss by the Colts on Sunday, to go along with big wins by both the Dolphins and Arizona Cardinals, the Colts have seemingly put any distance between them and the other “Suck for Luck” contenders for this season. The Colts are awful and should cruise to the total whether or not they try to loss is irrelevant, the question is can they win?
But with this competition just about wrapped up what happens now? Andrew Luck is coming off a disappointing game vs the Oregon Ducks from The Wall Street Journal:
No one’s arguing that Luck can’t play. But at last, a debate is percolating about the extent to which the emperor’s clothes exist. First Phil Simms, the CBS NFL commentator and former New York Giants quarterback, opined that the Luck hype is “a little too much,” that “I just don’t see big-time NFL throws.” Then Oregon routed Stanford 53-30 in their showdown Saturday night, as Luck posted so-so numbers (6.6 yards per attempt, three touchdowns) and had three turnovers (two interceptions, one fumble). He didn’t look overmatched, but he sure didn’t look like the best player on the field, let alone the country.
And the Colts still have first ballot hall of famer Peyton Manning on their roster. What will the Colts do. Manning has had more problems with his neck than any team should feel comftorable with, but he’ll be thirty six at the start of next season and because of the type of player he has always been mobility is not a huge issue. If he’s healthy he still has probably three good years of football left in him.
If the Colts decided to keep Peyton Manning and trade away Andrew Luck they might get as much as three or four first round picks for him (I think three is possible). Meaning they could trade down a few spots to a team like the Dolphins pick up an OT like Matt Kalil and have two first round picks in 2013, 2014, and maybe even 2015.
The second option is to keep Peyton Manning and Andrew Luck making Peyon Manning a mentor of sorts as Andrew Luck learns the ropes, let Manning finish out his career (about three more years) as number one overall pick Andrew Luck abies his time. This seems unrealistic to me. Yes, Aaron Rodgers did that in Green Bay, but there were two differences there. First Aaron Rodgers was not the number one overall pick, he was a late first round pick. Secondly, Rodgers was not nearly as “pro-ready” as Andrew Luck is today. Third both the Bill Polian and Peyton Manning believe young quarterbacks should take their lumps on the field not the film room.
The last option is to draft Andrew Luck and try to trade away Peyton Manning for a ransom (perhaps a first rounder and 2 seconds or something). I think Manning’s value is going to be less than people expect for two reasons: first his age. And secondly Peyton Manning just signed a huge contract extension and that is cumbersome for a team to take on.
Ultimately, I think their best option presently and for the future is probably to try and get a couple first round picks for Peyton Manning and move on with Andrew Luck. The Colts need to set themselves up potentially for the next 10 to 15 years not the next three. Who knows if they will ever be able to end up with an opportunity like this again (two times is pretty lucky) where they are picking first with this kind of talent available.
Peyton Manning probably deserves more but Joe Montana and Brett Favre were handed the same fate and many others will go out this way also. Either way the Colts couldn’t have “lucked” into a better year for Peyton Manning to have to miss time.
Thoughts Colts fans?
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