Call Me Nuts: My 2012 Off-Season Plan For Indy

[Hal]

Assuming Peyton Manning is 100% and bearing in mind I have ZERO qualifications outside of football addiction and tons of free time to do this.

Notable Re-Signings/Re-Structures/Trades: Unmentioned are released

Peyton Manning – Needs restructuring. Irsay gave Manning more money than he demanded and Peyton has shown he’s willing to restructure to benefit the team. Manning needs to take a big paycut if he wants to see Wayne and Garcon BOTH return. I'd like to see him re-work his contract to at the very least match Brady's cap hit, which is significantly smaller, although everyone knows how much someone is paid doesn't determine their actual skill. I'd love to see many take a 15Mil a year average, a bit lower than Brady's but that's unrealistic given Jim Irsay's weird thing about making Peyton the highest paid player in the NFL.

Reggie Wayne – 8 Mil hit this year. Wayne expects an elite receiver deal last I heard but that won’t happen from any team. Welker only makes 4 mil, Roddy White makes 9 mil in his biggest cap hit year, Greg Jennings makes around 8 and all of those guys are younger than Wayne. I’d cap him at 7/year and hate to see him go but if he wants more, I don’t see him staying.

Dwight Freeney - 19 Million Cap hit in 2012. Needs to be restructured or traded. Julius Peppers, widely regarded as the top DE in the league is a 13 Mil Hit, just for reference. Preferably I'd see Freeney's contract extended, as 2012 is his last year but it all depends on him. If he doesn't restructure, we need to trade him. Richard Seymour netted the Patriots a first rounder, Freeney could get a future round 1 or a 2012 round 2 or 3 and then some.

Ryan Diem - 6 Mil Hit this year. He's not a great lineman but he's suitable at guard and I can see us retaining him at 3-4 next year, maybe even less. Next year, he'll be the third most reliable on the line, and the other 2 spots aren't a lock to be fixed with Ijilana's injury, and our potential drafting of Luck.

Pierre Garcon - 600K Hit this year. He's going to want a big payday. Resign him to a heavily backloaded (less pay in the first few years, big raise in the back) contract. Some people think he's Pro Bowl material but he's not an elite receiver by far in my book, I'd cap his average/year at 4 mil and go elsewhere if I have to.

Anthony Gonzalez – 1.8 Mil Hit this year. Injury bugged and undervalued around the NFL; assuming he doesn’t expect a raise, resign him to a backloaded contract, around 1 mil per year at the start.

Jacob Lacey – 800K Hit this year. Resign at around 1 Mil/year or let him go. He's a nickel corner at best.

Robert Mathis – 5 Mil Hit this year. Assuming Freeney is restructured or traded, we can afford to resign him at the same numbers. For reference, Ray Edwards makes 6 mil/year on average.

Jeff Saturday – 5 Mil Hit this year. Dan Koppen, Patriots Center, makes 4.4 Mil a year. An extension around the same number, maybe a bit lower, would work.

Draft Plan: Assuming we have the first overall

This one’s too complicated to simply lay out the picks and start filling in guys. I can’t imagine an organization not taking Luck despite all the arguments about “you can’t use your number 1 pick on someone who won’t play” among others. I’d draft Luck and start trading up but that’s way too hard to map out. If we do draft Luck, I’d take an OT/OG in the second round, CB or DT in the 3^rd. There are a few of good DE/DT hybrids in this draft projected to go in the 3^rd – 4^th rounds.

Taking Luck means waiting a year before the roster becomes solid and it also means we’re not getting immediate help on the offensive line.

If we don’t take Luck this is the ONLY viable guideline that could happen which wouldn’t cause me, and probably thousands of fans, to explode in outrage: We trade the number one pick to a top 10 team plus a few other picks, maybe 2013. It has to be top 10 because we need to pick Matt Kalil or Jonathan Martin. Kalil is Top 5 talent, and Martin is Top 15 but I'd be shocked if these guys didn't both go in the First 5. Miami and Cleveland are easy targets to trade with, i.e. we'd get a ton of picks. This one is easier to map:

1-[2-10]: Matt Kalil USC OT, Jonathan Martin Stanford OT

2-1: Brandon Thompson Clemson DT, Alameda Ta’amu Washington NT, Chase Minnifield Virginia CB, Casey Hayward Vanderbilt CB

3-1: Derek Wolfe Cincinnati DT/DE, Kendall Reyes Connecticut DT/DE, Matt Reynolds BYU OT

4-1: Donnie Fletcher Boston College CB, Brandon Taylor LSU FS, Aaron Henry Wisconsin FS, Tavon Wilson Illinois SS

Later rounds become more difficult but you can see a trend in the first four: Linemen on both sides and secondary help. I imagine we’ll take a receiver or running back later, maybe a linebacker or some more help on the line. I also didn’t factor in where we’d get more picks from the Luck deal but in my head, if we don’t take Luck, we better reel in a ton of trades.

[Brett Snyder]

I was with you completely, until you said to target Tackles in the first round of the draft.

We drafted 2 tackles back to back last year (as I'm aware you know). Both should be improved with a year (or half a year) under their belts, and a full offseason. If that's the case, then we are set at tackle. If we don't go Luck, I don't think there's anyway we get out of the 1st round without a WR. Sure, it might not be our biggest, most pressing need, I just see it as a Polian move and highly likely. After that, getting interior line help on both sides, and suring up our secondary are most certainly our biggest needs for improvement moving forward.

I am excited for this team next season, and especially anticipating the return of Drake Nevis. Oh and lastly, I want to see my guys Ernie Sims/Jamal Anderson resigned. Never in a million years would I have seen either of them being on my beloved Colts.