Why Are Fans Scared Of The Idea Of The Colts Drafting Luck?

[reddmmann]

I'm just going to post the following stats for comparison:

through 5 games:

Andrew Luck: 106/145, 73.1% completion, 14 TD 2 INT

Alex Smith: 83/126, 65.9% completion, 7 TD 1 INT

Alex Smith is 6th in the league in completion percentage and 3rd in overall QB rating with a QB rating of 104.1. He's also tied at #1 with Aaron Rodgers for best TD/INT ratio. This is all in his first year in Jim Harbaugh's system, the same system that Luck is currently in at Stanford. Prior to this year, Smith's best completion % for a year was 60.5% (in '09 and this was the only year he even topped 60%) and his best QB rating was 82.1. Smith's best TD/INT ratio was last year when the ratio was 1.5/1...a far cry from his current 7/1 ratio.

I don't know if this will help, but this is what I've been trying to understand....is Luck really that good or is he perhaps, even maybe just a little teeny tiny bit, a product of a very QB friendly system. If you don't believe this is at all possible then I ask only one question....what is the explanation for the dramatic increase in production of Alex Smith?

It's not fright; it's logic. This isn't the Favre/Rodgers scenario, even though it looks like that to people who can't think for themselves our breath through their noses. Why spend $24 million dollars on a guy who won't do anything for 4 years? The Packers certainly didn't. That money could be better spent on picks and acquisitions that not only prepare this team for the future, but also maximize our chances to win Super Bowls while Manning is still around.

Because the Owner is thinking beyond 4 years

[JoKeR]

People fear change.

That change will come one way or the other but if we draft Luck we will atleast have the ultimate insurance policy.

Some will say that Luck wouldn't want to sit behind Manning, I say don't be so sure. I think its just as likely he would love to learn from Manning.

[dn4192]

LOL...and with that I say the same to you that you say to so many others.....I am glad you are not the Colts GM. You want to keep Jim Caldwell and cut Peyton Manning for someone who could be the next Alex Smith?

Yes, you take risks every time you draft...but by asking yourself these important questions (is Luck that good or is he product of Harbaugh's system) then you can make educated, calculated risks. You don't have to just "go by the information you have"...you investigate for yourself.

I'm thrilled for you that you're such a big fan of Luck that you would take him no questions asked...but in doing so you're also stating that you would cut Peyton Manning in the process. So, cut the greatest of all time who could have 3-4 fully healthy years left in favor of a guy who you're not going to take the time to ask any important questions about? Nice.

I have yet to hear 1 person associated with reviewing college players and such say anything bad about Luck or that he isn't NFL type of QB. So given we only have data from his college years to go off of, I am willing to risk it, just like we did when we drafted Peyton.

As for "cutting" Peyton, yep I have no problem cutting a 37 or 38+ year old QB. In fact anyone with any basic knowledge on Football would see that as a smart move if you have a younger better option available. Why keep him around?

[mightisright]

There are no more rings for Peyton, have you not watched the last 5 games? The Manning era is over or coming to an end.

There ARE more rings for Peyton if we beef up our defense through the draft and free agency in the off season. Why shut the Manning era down prematurely?

[Jason_]

I have yet to hear 1 person associated with reviewing college players and such say anything bad about Luck or that he isn't NFL type of QB.

So given we only have data from his college years to go off of, I am willing to risk it, just like we did when we drafted Peyton.

As for "cutting" Peyton, yep I have no problem cutting a 37 or 38+ year old QB. In fact anyone with any basic knowledge on Football would see that as a smart move if you have a younger better option available. Why keep him around?

No no...when it came time to draft Peyton, Polian did not just draft him no questions asked. He did ask the questions, the type of questions I'm looking at regarding Luck. He wanted and needed to see for himself which QB was the best. He didn't give in to media hype, or listen to the "draft experts", many of whom said Leaf was the better choice.

[ruksak]

As for "cutting" Peyton, yep I have no problem cutting a 37 or 38+ year old QB. In fact anyone with any basic knowledge on Football would see that as a smart move if you have a younger better option available. Why keep him around?

That would be the most expensive mistake we ever made.

[mightisright]

agreed. Why would you cut a GOAT proven AB in favor of an unproven rookie? Especially when we're not going to be winning much of anything until we get some talent on D regardless of who's our QB. But just out of curiosity, what would we be out if we cut Manning next year?

[Jason_]

That would be the most expensive mistake we ever made.

Nah man, just press START button on the controller, go to Franchise options and turn off the Salary Cap.

[tikyle]

Going from Manning to Luck would hopefully be like Green Bay going from Favre to Rodgers. The team never has to "rebuild" and they just keep on rolling when it comes time to part w/ the legend.

[MightyColts84]

Well I think each and every one of you guys are going to be wasting your breath and words. whats going to happen is Andrew Luck ( in his junior year ) will not enter the draft this upcoming april...thus we will spend our top draft picks on defensive players hopefully anyways. espescially at cornerbacks and special teams because they are horrible. i guess it might not be too much of their faults because our defensive scheme sucks anyway. tampa 2 only worked for one year back in 2002 lol. Then after Luck completes his Senior year he will still be 1 draft pick, by that time manning is back and completed the 2012 season and probably be a top 7 team in the league far away from 32 / last place. so we wont get him. The only possible way is, if Luck purposely WANTS to be drafted by the Colts and play for the Colts and enter the draft in april , knowing the colts wont be in last place like they are this year at the following year. Hes too much of a smart kid , i dont see him skipping school to go play in the NFL early when he can play another year in college and raise his value even higher then it already is. UNLESS He absolutely WANTS to play for the Colts.

[Jason_]

, i dont see him skipping school to go play in the NFL early when he can play another year in college and raise his value even higher then it already is.

How do you raise your value higher than the #1 overall pick?

[mightisright]

Going from Manning to Luck would hopefully be like Green Bay going from Favre to Rodgers. The team never has to "rebuild" and they just keep on rolling when it comes time to part w/ the legend.

The difference is that they had been drafting high for at least a few years and already had the team built around him. We don't. We MUST fix our team no matter what QB we have or Luck/Manning/Jesus Christ can't help us much!

[SanAntonioColt]

Problem is your "all time great" isn't great anymore. We need to accept this fact that we have seen the best of Peyton and it's time to begin moving towards the future. This is what I mean by "scared" Joe Colt Fan is scared to accept that it's time to begin the transition between Peyton and his replacement. This transition isn't something that should be done overnight, I would say it is about a 2 maybe 3 year process and if the opportunity is there for the replacement to be Andrew Luck, you have to take it, even if it means Peytons career comes to a end a tad sooner.

You're clearly not understanding that the Colts are not going to keep both PM and Luck for a 2/3 year transition. I, for one, believe that Peyton will be better than Luck over the next 2-4 years and with additional draft picks from trading the overall #1, the Colts are more likely to win championships by sticking with Peyton. You must also believe that Peyton is better than Luck for at least 2 years or you wouldn't be calling for a transition period. You must be "scared" of letting Peyton go. If the Colts get the first pick, it's Peyton or Luck, but not both. I'm not Joe Namath, but I guarantee Peyton and Luck will both not be Colts for more than one season.

[MAC]

How do you raise your value higher than the #1 overall pick?

rotfl Exactly. He will come out for the money - period - like every other player in the history of the sport. Waiting another year (assuming that he even has that option - I don't know) will simply take millions out of his pocket, and dramatically increase the risk of an injury costing him millions more. Who he plays for is secondary. Any athlete of his ilk will have the mind-set that he is going to succeed regardless of where he goes anyway.

[dn4192]

There ARE more rings for Peyton if we beef up our defense through the draft and free agency in the off season. Why shut the Manning era down prematurely?

Prematurely? He is in the twilight of his career on a very average overall team that is not going to be improved in 1 draft. He has a very serious injury that may very well restrict his ability to play much longer at any level, let alone the high level he has played at. He has given us a great decade of football here in Indy and it is time to begin looking for his replacement to take over come 2013 or 2014 if not next season possibly and we have the chance depending on how things finish out to draft the highest rated QB to come out of college since Peyton and you want to pass? That makes zero logical sense. What makes franchises great is to know when it's time to start grooming your next franchise player...those who know how to do it continue to be successful, those who don't are bottom feeders...

[dn4192]

You're clearly not understanding that the Colts are not going to keep both PM and Luck for a 2/3 year transition. I, for one, believe that Peyton will be better than Luck over the next 2-4 years and with additional draft picks from trading the overall #1, the Colts are more likely to win championships by sticking with Peyton. You must also believe that Peyton is better than Luck for at least 2 years or you wouldn't be calling for a transition period. You must be "scared" of letting Peyton go. If the Colts get the first pick, it's Peyton or Luck, but not both. I'm not Joe Namath, but I guarantee Peyton and Luck will both not be Colts for more than one season.

Why not? Very few if any QB's are NFL ready their first year. So here you have the chance to say..send Luck to "grad" school so to speak and learn under Manning for 2 years, 3 at most and then he steps in and takes over. There is no reason to think this isn't a good idea for the Colts, Luck and even Manning.

[Jason_]

Why not? Very few if any QB's are NFL ready their first year. So here you have the chance to say..send Luck to "grad" school so to speak and learn under Manning for 2 years, 3 at most and then he steps in and takes over. There is no reason to think this isn't a good idea for the Colts, Luck and even Manning.

There is plenty of reason to think that this isn't a good idea, just like there is equal reason to think it could be a good idea. It's a matter of opinion. To claim anything otherwise is nonsense.

[dn4192]

There is plenty of reason to think that this isn't a good idea, just like there is equal reason to think it could be a good idea. It's a matter of opinion. To claim anything otherwise is nonsense.

I fail to see any negative outside of him being a 100% bust, which could happen but outside of that it's a win/win situation for the Colts and their fans and ticket sales. Might not be a win/win for Peyton...but I don't care, Peytons time has/is coming to an end and time to move on.

[smittywerb]

I know we've looked seriously bad at times this season, but if Manning were playing we could very realistically be 4-1 right now. Given, none of us know for sure what Manning is gonna play like when he comes back (but I've got a strong hunch he's gonna be frickin' awesome as always), but even without him, we could still easily be 3-2 right now. It's not as bad as it seems, really. We've got numerous injuries and we still could have easily won the last three games. People are just reacting to our record, but we are much better than our record indicates. And most of us on here have a tendency to overexagerate our points in order to get them across. If Manning comes back full strength, we do trade the Luck pick how I suggested, we sign 3-5 contributing free agents, and we stay somewhat healthy, I see no reason at all why we wouldn't be superbowl contenders again next season.

I disagree with this statement, Only good (meaning chance to win SB) teams I think we stayed up with were the Steelers and Bucs (if you want to count them but I don't). Houston gave us a shellacking and the other two were horrible teams. If we can't beat the bottom of the bunch what does that say about us? This team has been covered up by Peyton and the writing is on the wall. Only promise I see out of this season is the "getting better but still mediocre" running game and Curtis Painter, other than that, it is the same ol same ol (injuries, average players starting, no run game, etc.). And that's our problem, EVERY YEAR we hope to stay healthy and it never happens. Only two years it has happened and both of them were SB years. I just don't see how rookies are going to make an IMMEDIATE impact. I'm not against drafting but for those who are on the "win now" wagon it doesn't make sense. If we were a more active team in FA I would be open to trading the pick. But I know we're not so why not start with the future now by drafting a once in a lifetime player. To be honest, I don't think Peyton will be able to make it to the SB with THIS team.

valid point...however no one is suggesting to replace the entire OL with a group of rookies, or the entire WR core. In my ideal draft we get 1 MLB, 1 DT, 1 OG, 1 WR, 1 SS, 1 CB, a developmental QB and then any other players picked are for depth. So you're not plugging multiple new players into any one area but rather adding one new player into multiple areas. I would expect several to start pretty much from day one whereas a few others may not start until midway through the season. This doesn't mean we completely ignore FA...we could still go into FA for additional help on the OL and/or in the secondary. You simply have to be smart about the players you draft and go specifically for players who already perform a function similar to what you would be asking them to do on our team. You have to do the same thing in FA. You can't just go out and start signing any available FA...if they've played exclusively in a type of system that is opposite of what we're going to be asking them to do then there's a big learning curve there as well.

As said in another post, we are not gonna draft that many starters. I can see people are starting to put too much value in these picks. These will be good picks, don't get me wrong, but 80% of these picks will not be able to make an IMMEDIATE impact on Peyton's chances of winning it all. Some will be able to, but majority will be depth as you said.

[Jason_]

As said in another post, we are not gonna draft that many starters. I can see people are starting to put too much value in these picks. These will be good picks, don't get me wrong, but 80% of these picks will not be able to make an IMMEDIATE impact on Peyton's chances of winning it all. Some will be able to, but majority will be depth as you said.

They have a lot better chance at making an immediate impact than a QB who will sit on the bench until Manning is done. Also, if injuries are one of our biggest issues, then wouldn't bringing in the biggest group of young impact players be one of the best ways to combat the injury bug?

[dn4192]

They have a lot better chance at making an immediate impact than a QB who will sit on the bench until Manning is done. Also, if injuries are one of our biggest issues, then wouldn't bringing in the biggest group of young impact players be one of the best ways to combat the injury bug?

What if your QB is the one who is injuried? Also you can't look short term when the level of talent at the most key position in the franchise will be available.

[Jason_]

What if your QB is the one who is injuried? Also you can't look short term when the level of talent at the most key position in the franchise will be available.

You've seen my mock draft so you already know that it includes drafting a QB. Also, as has been pointed out many times already in painstaking detail, trading the Luck pick and acquiring additional picks we use to fill as many holes as we can this year AND the additional early picks in future draft(s) address both the short term AND the long term. Your stance of taking Luck addresses the long-term but does nothing at all for the short term unless Peyton doesn't return to 100% for next season.

[Flash7]

Peyton Manning although having surgery on his neck, has not been placed on IR. You would have to assume that this is so that he can practice when cleared to play. I highly doubt that he will actually play in any games this year; however, he will practice, mainly so that he can rebuild his arm strength and re-establish timing with the receivers. More importantly, so that he can be evaluated prior to this year’s draft.

At this point there are two directions that the front office can pursue, either to draft Andrew Luck, or trade the pick, given that we have the first overall pick, (which still is unlikely.)

If Peyton Manning’s health is an issue then obviously we will draft Andrew Luck. He is too good to pass up on. The quarterback position is the most important position in football, and although does not guarantee that we will be a winning team; recent history has shown that teams with a good quarterback usually are contenders. What has been missed in many posts is that given that we have the first overall pick, then we would also have the first pick in every subsequent round of the draft. We would have the option to choose the best player in each round. These picks can be used to strengthen the defense, and receiving corps. We would essentially then have the “best player” in the draft and the best pick in each round to address our additional needs. People have forgotten that we can draft Luck and draft other players too.

If Peyton is healthy and on track to recover without the discomfort that he has felt in his neck in previous years, the front office may choose to trade the draft picks for numerous picks. They can surround Peyton Manning with talent that can contribute right away; with picks at receiver and DB etc…You can argue that if Peyton Manning was playing this year, we would be 4-1. We can certainly be much better with numerous first and second round picks for the next few years. The focus would be to win a Superbowl with Manning NOW. What the front office would have to consider is that Peyton is getting older. He will be 37 years old during the next season. With age comes a progressive deteriation in speed, strength, and ability to recover from soreness. The front office will have to make the decision if Luck is an absolute must, regardless of Peyton’s health at that time, in which case they would draft Luck with the knowledge that he would learn under Peyton for a year or so, and then be the eventual starter.

[Duolian]

Would St. Luck not have tremendous leverage in determining certain teams he would NOT play for (ala Eli Manning, for example)? Or have rules changed on that? Just the fact that he has the option to not come out would seem to give him more bargaining power than your ordinary mortal QB. I've heard comments that he comes from a family that is perhaps not hurting for money, as well. All conjecture, but all the talk about which 0-16 team gets him may be a bit premature.

[dn4192]

You've seen my mock draft so you already know that it includes drafting a QB. Also, as has been pointed out many times already in painstaking detail, trading the Luck pick and acquiring additional picks we use to fill as many holes as we can this year AND the additional early picks in future draft(s) address both the short term AND the long term. Your stance of taking Luck addresses the long-term but does nothing at all for the short term unless Peyton doesn't return to 100% for next season.

There is no "short" term. The Manning era is over and as soon as the Fans and the Colts understand that and begin moving towards the next era the better and to do that you MUST have the best possible QB you can and if that allows you to pick up a quality player in Luck, even the better. This team this year even with a healthy Petyon was a 8-8 or 9-7 team at best and that is only going to go down over the coming seasons while a total rebuild happens. Trading for picks doesn't address the major need of this team which is a QB that can lead you for the next decade.

[Corndog]

We could go all defense in this draft and it wouldn't matter so long as we are still playing that soft Tampa 2 Scheme and Coyer is our defensive coordinator. It would just be more talented guys being asked to play 15-20 yards off the ball. But this thread isn't about that so I digress. rotfl

I have to agree, I think our poor defense has alot to due with play calling and teaching fundamentals(mainly tackling). Other than the cornerbacks position this team is pretty solid talentwise on the defensive side of the ball. Our D-line is strong, the LB position has improved and is young so it should continue to improve, and the safety position looks decent as well. If this team has an opportunity to get a once in a decade QB with a first round pick, which they probably won't get again while Manning is with the team, they have to take it. Great corners, offensive linemen and safeties are in the draft every year, a truely great QB isn't even with first pick. Manning is going to be 36 next year, the same age Favre was when Green Bay drafted Aaron Rogers. People might not like to hear this, but it is time to thing of life after Manning.

Edited October 12, 2011 by Corndog

[Portage Coltfans]

There is no "short" term. The Manning era is over and as soon as the Fans and the Colts understand that and begin moving towards the next era the better and to do that you MUST have the best possible QB you can and if that allows you to pick up a quality player in Luck, even the better. This team this year even with a healthy Petyon was a 8-8 or 9-7 team at best and that is only going to go down over the coming seasons while a total rebuild happens. Trading for picks doesn't address the major need of this team which is a QB that can lead you for the next decade.

How do you know that Luck can lead us for the next decade? what if he isn't that good?

You "what if" peyton all over your post, but you don't "what if" Luck at all??

[dn4192]

How do you know that Luck can lead us for the next decade? what if he isn't that good?

You "what if" peyton all over your post, but you don't "what if" Luck at all??

You play the odds. The chances of Luck being able to lead this team for the next day are much higher then having a injuried 36+ year old QB with a questionable front line due it. Please feel free to list all those 36+ year old non mobile QB's to lead their teams to either the Superbowl or the NFL championship game in the game's history.

[SanAntonioColt]

Why not? Very few if any QB's are NFL ready their first year. So here you have the chance to say..send Luck to "grad" school so to speak and learn under Manning for 2 years, 3 at most and then he steps in and takes over. There is no reason to think this isn't a good idea for the Colts, Luck and even Manning.

How many overall #1 QB picks have sat for more than 1 year and been successful in the NFL. I can't think of any and that is especially true in the Salary Cap era. Ready or not they usually play quickly.Grad School for Luck and a huge contract for Peyton may be more than the Colts can afford.

[Jason_]

There is no "short" term. The Manning era is over and as soon as the Fans and the Colts understand that and begin moving towards the next era the better and to do that you MUST have the best possible QB you can and if that allows you to pick up a quality player in Luck, even the better. This team this year even with a healthy Petyon was a 8-8 or 9-7 team at best and that is only going to go down over the coming seasons while a total rebuild happens. Trading for picks doesn't address the major need of this team which is a QB that can lead you for the next decade.

So go fire up Madden, cut Peyton Manning, re-sign him so you can cut him again until your heart is content. :wub: Then you can create Andrew Luck and max out all his attributes to make sure there's no chance he can be a bust and....happy playing. Be sure to turn off the salary cap though cause otherwise you're going to run into some issues...especially with the whole "cut Peyton" part.

And again, yes trading picks still addresses the QB need if you draft any QB besides Luck this year (Jones, Barkley, Foles etc) or use one of the multiple first round picks we would have next year.

I have to agree, I think our poor defense has alot to due with play calling and teaching fundamentals(mainly tackling). Other than the cornerbacks position this team is pretty solid talentwise on the defensive side of the ball. Our D-line is strong, the LB position has improved and is young so it should continue to improve, and the safety position looks decent as well. If this team has an opportunity to get a once in a decade QB with a first round pick, which they probably won't get again while Manning is with the team, they have to take it. Great corners, offensive linemen and safeties are in the draft every year, a truely great QB isn't even with first pick. Manning is going to be 36 next year, the same age Favre was when Green Bay drafted Aaron Rogers. People might not like to hear this, but it is time to thing of life after Manning.

No one is refusing to think about life after Manning. If we have the #1 pick, we can trade down even just once and only trade down a few picks and we'd still be able to get Matt Barkley or Landry Jones, who are the #2 and #3 QB prospect and currently top 5 overall prospects. Or, trade down even further or multiple times and use a late 1st/early 2nd round pick on a QB like Green Bay did. My preferences in order from this group are Foles > Tannehill > Griffin > Moore. The whole point is there are more QB options than just Andrew Luck.

Edited October 12, 2011 by Jason

[dn4192]

How many overall #1 QB picks have sat for more than 1 year and been successful in the NFL. I can't think of any and that is especially true in the Salary Cap era. Ready or not they usually play quickly.Grad School for Luck and a huge contract for Peyton may be more than the Colts can afford.

How often do the teams getting to pick in the No. 1 Slot are in the situation that the Colts are in and have possibly a good QB who has the ability to teach his replacement for a couple of seasons.

[dn4192]

So go fire up Madden, cut Peyton Manning, re-sign him so you can cut him again until your heart is content. :wub: Then you can create Andrew Luck and max out all his attributes to make sure there's no chance he can be a bust and....happy playing. Be sure to turn off the salary cap though cause otherwise you're going to run into some issues...especially with the whole "cut Peyton" part.

And again, yes trading picks still addresses the QB need if you draft any QB besides Luck this year (Jones, Barkley, Foles etc) or use one of the multiple first round picks we would have next year.

No one is refusing to think about life after Manning. If we have the #1 pick, we can trade down even just once and only trade down a few picks and we'd still be able to get Matt Barkley or Landry Jones, who are the #2 and #3 QB prospect and currently top 5 overall prospects. Or, trade down even further or multiple times and use a late 1st/early 2nd round pick on a QB like Green Bay did. My preferences in order from this group are Foles > Tannehill > Griffin > Moore. The whole point is there are more QB options than just Andrew Luck.

There won't be any "salary" cap issues, and neither Barkley nor Jones bring to the table that Luck does. Luck is a once in a decade type of QB while the other two are not even better then the top 2-3 QB's who went in last years draft. Sure they may make nice NFL QB's, but why take ground beef when you can have a T-bone stake? The fact is you don't get shots at players like Luck very often, the Colts did with Peyton and now we have a second chance to make that kind of choice and you want to give it away? I am SO glad you are not our GM and should the Colts have the no. 1 pick, I have full faith that the Polians will draft Luck and we will be set.

[Jason_]

now we have a second chance to make that kind of choice and you want to give it away?

No I don't want to give it away....I want to sell it to the highest bidder.

[Jason_]

There won't be any "salary" cap issues,

There will be a huge issue if the Colts don't exercise the opt-out clause in Manning's contract (which to my knowledge is only valid before the start of the 2012 season) because based on what I've been able to find, if they don't exercise the opt-out clause then the entire $90 mil contract is guaranteed as long as Manning can pass a physical. You want to ride him out of town once Luck is ready, which would likely be after 1 year. If the Colts cut Manning after the 2012 season then they're on the hook for his entire contract. No way do they cut him with that much money guaranteed and no way they don't play him if he's physically able because of the money they're paying him. Unless the information I've found about his contract is wrong and if so by all means someone please correct me.

Edited October 12, 2011 by Jason

[Moncrief]

Okay sure, Let's go take Luck and see if he is what everyone is proclaiming him to be. Then what? We will be drafting at the end of round 1 for another 10+ years trying to figure out why our defense needs so much help and why our special teams blow. No thank you. I would much rather trade Luck to the 'Phins, 'Hawks or 49ers for a lottery's worth in draft picks and use those picks to help solidify our team needs.

Edited October 12, 2011 by AustinCollie17

[Flash7]

Austin Collie17, why not draft luck as the first overall pick, and use our remaining picks to address the rest of our issues? Just because we draft Luck does not mean we forfeit the rest of our draft picks. We will be drafting first in every round and can get the best available player in every round. This is far better than pickig at the end of every round, like we have been. I see this as a win-win. We can still get very good immediate impact players with our remaining draft picks that we have. Most people think that if we draft Luck, that's it end of story. The reality is that it can be the beginning to a great draft.

[dn4192]

There will be a huge issue if the Colts don't exercise the opt-out clause in Manning's contract (which to my knowledge is only valid before the start of the 2012 season) because based on what I've been able to find, if they don't exercise the opt-out clause then the entire $90 mil contract is guaranteed as long as Manning can pass a physical. You want to ride him out of town once Luck is ready, which would likely be after 1 year. If the Colts cut Manning after the 2012 season then they're on the hook for his entire contract. No way do they cut him with that much money guaranteed and no way they don't play him if he's physically able because of the money they're paying him. Unless the information I've found about his contract is wrong and if so by all means someone please correct me.

I don't see Luck being ready after one season, I see him coming in and spending 2012 and 2013 learning under Peyton. Then in the offseason between 13 and 14 I see Manning and Irsay working out a deal.

[Jason_]

Austin Collie17, why not draft luck as the first overall pick, and use our remaining picks to address the rest of our issues? Just because we draft Luck does not mean we forfeit the rest of our draft picks. We will be drafting first in every round and can get the best available player in every round. This is far better than pickig at the end of every round, like we have been. I see this as a win-win. We can still get very good immediate impact players with our remaining draft picks that we have. Most people think that if we draft Luck, that's it end of story. The reality is that it can be the beginning to a great draft.

And a lot of people think that if we don't draft Luck then we're screwed at the QB position for the next 15 years. I understand what you're saying, we can still have a great draft. But we could have a phenomenal draft if we make the right trades and acquire a bucket full of additional picks to go with what we'll already have. We can still do this and draft the QB that people want us to "groom" behind Peyton but it just won't be Luck.

Some people also think that us "trade down" folks are just talking about picking up one or two extra picks and that's not anywhere near true. My dream mock draft including deals I think the Colts easily could make is here....

So yes, we still have the first pick in each additional round, but with the right deals we wind up with 2-6 extra picks in the first 3-4 rounds PLUS an additional first round pick next year and additional mid round picks next year as well.

[LUVTHESHOE]

There will be a huge issue if the Colts don't exercise the opt-out clause in Manning's contract (which to my knowledge is only valid before the start of the 2012 season) because based on what I've been able to find, if they don't exercise the opt-out clause then the entire $90 mil contract is guaranteed as long as Manning can pass a physical. You want to ride him out of town once Luck is ready, which would likely be after 1 year. If the Colts cut Manning after the 2012 season then they're on the hook for his entire contract. No way do they cut him with that much money guaranteed and no way they don't play him if he's physically able because of the money they're paying him. Unless the information I've found about his contract is wrong and if so by all means someone please correct me.

lol, i think dn4192 is tommy chong! cut manning, keep caldwell. daahhhh!. i just heard luck say he would sit on bench

for six years as long he is assured that he can be mentored by the superbowl appearing,bad timeout calling, no red flag throwing,

correctable mistake, six inches at a time football guru jim caldwell, hof coach for sure.

[Jason_]

I don't see Luck being ready after one season, I see him coming in and spending 2012 and 2013 learning under Peyton. Then in the offseason between 13 and 14 I see Manning and Irsay working out a deal.

If your #1 overall pick QB who's "the greatest prospect in 15 years" isn't ready to start after 1 year then he's not the QB prospect you thought he was going to be and he was in no way worth a #1 overall pick. The whole hype around Luck is primarily because of him being NFL ready from day 1. That means all those experts you're listening to to know how good he is says he'll be ready to be a pro starter in the first game of his career, but now you're saying he won't be ready for 2 years? Honestly I'm having trouble putting to words how baffled I am right now.