Peter King: Manning and Colts Open to Moving Option Date
Kyle Rodriguez brings in good news on Manning's $28 million option bonus.
NOTE: Todd Smith linked to this, but I wanted to make sure that it was seen, and wanted to hear your thoughts on this.
According to a report by Peter King during Saturday night's Football Night in America, the Colts and Peyton Manning may be open to moving the March 8 date, when the $28 million bonus is due.
Both may be amenable to pushing back that March 8 date by which he's owed $28 million in the option bonus by the Indianapolis Colts
Good news from the Colts if this is true. Basically, this gives the Colts more time for Manning to fully recover, if possible. Right now I don't believe Manning is nearly as close as he or the Colts want him to be, and unless the news gets drastically better quickly, he wouldn't be ready in time for the March 8 date, causing the Colts to either gamble on him, or cut him loose.
With a pushed back date, the Colts would have a much better shot at getting a fully recovered Manning (or close enough) by the time the option must be verified. It seems the Colts are set on drafting Andrew Luck now, so all that remains is what happens to Peyton.
What do you think? What do you hope happens, and what do you think will happen?
To answer the questions, I think PK will continue to value his own opinion over fact. I think people will continue to give too much credit to his opinions. I hope he will eventually be discredited. He is the kind of journalist that makes people like the Polians mistrustful, due the biased dishonesty, utterly devoid of fact checking.
I try to ignore most things that come out of PK's word processing devices. He is extremely biased and assumes things more than any major 'reporter/journalist' working today in the confines of the nfl.
Keep Manning. It would be different if Luck was a proven NFL commodity but lets face it, he's not. This is not a situation any team has been in before. Its not like Rodgers/Farve or Young/Montana, we do not know he can play at the NFL level or MVP level regardless of what he has done in the past. Luck could be the greatest thing since sliced bread or he could be Ryan Leaf. How as a franchise can you make that leap of faith or expect Luck to not buckle under the kind of pressure? Unless our new GM is nuttier than squirrel poo or Irsay forgets to put on his pants expect manning back with a restructured deal and Luck waiting in the wings.
I have not heard anything on Reggie Wayne? Again another one I do not think you can trade/cut. You can cut Harrison when you've got a Wayne but do not tell me Garcon is on the same level.
Can the site admins take a look at mobile support? No side links and text overlaying is occuring on every page view from my droid pad.
It's obvious Irsay wants both. I've said for awhile, and I'll maintain. Unless Manning is unable to play, or Luck pulls an Eli, they are BOTH going to be on the Colts roster next year. I fully endorse this move as well. The team this last year, with Manning as QB was a 10 win team and we'd be watching them this weekend. I still do not believe that the Colts are bereft of talent and I fully expect them to draft Luck, and still be in the playoffs next year with Manning as the QB. Give the Colts a better DC (not hard) a little more talent on D, and retain a few key free agents, and this team is not rebuilding, it's reloading.
My two cents worth. Given the current front office situation, I can imagine Irsay having the final say on Manning, and being upfront with any GM candidate that Manning is to be retained and stay our starting QB (if healthy). I can see a GM accepting those terms, mainly because we know what Manning is as an NFL player. However, the same thing is not true if you presume Irsay is deadset on drafting Luck. I can not fathom how a new GM would agree to being in a position where the choice about the fate of the draft was already made by your owner. Luck is a prospect; in my opinion, no GM worth their salt, no matter how great the hype surrounding Luck, would bind their own hands by not being completely free in their first drafting evaluation. So all this to say that this report about renegotiating the deadline only makes sense to me if Irsay is heavily leaning towards keeping Manning and being open about the 1st round pick. It makes no sense if the decision is already set in stone that we´ll draft Luck. Or the report is bogus, which is a possibility given what we presumably know about the CBA.
@Goeland Unfortunately, another way the report makes sense is if Irsay is willing to take a GM who isn't worth their salt, in order to get the outcome on Manning and Luck that he's pre-determined.
@pierrezombie@Goéland As devastated as I am right now because of the Polians being fired, from what we´re seeing about Irsay´s search for a GM, I´m inclined to believe he´s going after some of the best GM prospects out there. And on that note, how revealing is it that MacKenzie allegedly had no interest whatsoever in even an interview with the Colts because it was too reminiscent of the Favre/Rodgers situation in Green Bay? That should be a major red flag for anyone with eyes concerning the keep Manning and Luck situation, no?
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I would love for the option to get pushed back. However, I'm confused as to whether pushing the option back can actually happen. As several people have mentioned, I'm not sure the new CBA allows it to happen. I hope it's an option though.
@keep_the_eraser Iraqi just tweeted today that no discussions have taken place yet. I hope they may still happen sometime... But who knows.
@Kyle Rodriguez@keep_the_eraser lol iraqi? was that a phone deal or is that actually what you call irsay?
either way it was funny
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I flip flop every few days. Take Luck and shift Manning is becoming more palatable.
before i was wanting to keep manning and draft luck. i am now leaning towards just getting rid of manning and taking luck.
1) it will give us some much needed cap relief so we can actually rebuild this thing right
2) the colts will lose some fans but my god that would be amazing. i am tired of some of these manning fans. our fanbase may get smaller the the iq of the rest of us will grow
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@omahacolt Personally, I'm a bandwagon Colts fan because of Manning. I lived in Bloomington for a few years (2002-2005), heard too much crap from my New England friends, and really got into the Colts. Couldn't sleep after certain losses -- the Steelers in '05, a couple of gut-wrenching playoff losses to the Chargers, and the awful onside kick game. I'm afraid that's all over.
If Manning goes, I go.
I don't think that says anything about my IQ--my personality, maybe, and perhaps even my character. It was a great run, but I'll have to find a new team. I'll wait for the next team with a lovable loser quarterback who struggles under pressure and jump on their bandwagon. Maybe it'll be Manning's new team.
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@omahacolt If your comment is an indication of that mysterious IQ growth spurt you speak of, I´m not holding my breath.
If Luck is getting drafted either way, I'm not terribly excited about this date getting moved back really.
Again, assuming Luck is coming, I'd just as soon have the organization's hand be forced into making the right decision and release Manning. Heck, I'd feel better about releasing Manning, if that's what's got to be done, if he just isn't healthy.
@Pied This, 100%. I'm honestly not entirely sure which I want under center next season, but I don't trust Irsay to realize the problems with keeping both Manning and Luck. The earlier deadline felt like a safety net of sorts. Losing that right after the reports about drafting Luck is less than good news in my mind.
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I know what I want.
I want Peyton F. Manning throwing passes to Jim Irsay's mom, still gaining 4,000 plus yards, 30+ TD's, and gaining his fifth MVP.
Manning is the greatest of all time, and though I am a Colts fan regardless, the thought of passing up the GOAT makes me sick.
Did this season not teach us what Manning means to this team?
@mattshedd @Pied Fair enough, and I'm in complete agreement that Peyton is the GOAT. My only hesitation in sticking with him is the thought that we'll be stuck going through this season (or one similar) again in four years with an even older core. Blowing up the team now with a likely-to-be-solid QB in Luck ready to step could avoid that.
The emotional part of me is not happy with the thought of losing any of these guys, though. At all.
It's time to move on. We've had an amazing run with Manning but It's better for both parties to part. Manning can go to another team and win a superbowl. I Will be rooting for him like crazy especially if he joins the Jets.
@homerguy Me too. I've read so many conflicting reports about this, I have no idea what to think
