As a Colts fan, this is an unusual year. Usually when April rolls around I’m speculating on what draft choices my favorite team will make.
This year, I’ve known who the Colts will take since mid-April. Spoiler alert for anyone without access to ESPN: the Colts are taking Andrew Luck in the 2012 NFL draft.
Luck, a quarterback out of Stanford, put up impressive numbers during his time — the last two seasons, his completion percentage has hovered around 70 percent and he has passed for well over 3000 yards. Luck’s performance is complemented by the fact that he plays for an offense similar to the offense he’ll encounter in the NFL.
For the Colts, Luck’s NFL-ready quality might outshine his college performance. Since the end of last season, the Colts have cleaned house. While their release of Manning was the biggest story to come out of the Colt’s front office this year, the cuts have not stopped with Manning.
The obvious sign of changing the regime in Indianapolis was when General Manager Bill Polian was fired. Polian had drafted Manning, Edgerrin James, and Dwight Freeney. Polian made the Colts into a passing oriented, fast and athletic defense which took the Colts to playoffs year after year. When Polian was released it became obvious that the Colts were going to let go of Manning.
Bill Polian, one of the architects of the last decade of Colts football, was cut along with his son Chris. Coach Jim Caldwell was let go. Running back Joseph Addai was cut along with tight end Dallas Clark, safety Melvin Bullitt, linebacker Gary Brackett, and backup quarterback Curtis Painter — finally.
When the cuts were announced in March, it seemed like Colts owner Jim Irsay wasn’t just trying to get rid of Manning. It looked like he was trying to draft a whole new organization. For the longest time, I thought that Irsay’s goal was to leave the Manning days in the past. He was folding his cards and waiting for a new hand.
Which, honestly, is why the draft of Luck makes no sense. Despite all Irsay’s cuts, the offensive line that allowed Manning to get so much throwing time remains intact (with the exception of Jeff Saturday, whose exit was almost inevitable given his closeness to Manning). Veteran wide receiver Reggie Wayne remains on the roster.
Essentially, the Colts are ready to rebuild, as long as rebuilding means that the Colts offensive strategy remains the same as it has for the past decade. The Colts seem dedicated to being a passing offense with a weak run game and defense. New coach Chuck Pagano may as well get used to it.
The Colts strategy going into the 2012 NFL draft seems to be to hire Luck and hope that he’s as good as Manning. Let me change that — hire Luck and hope he’s as good as Manning at the offense Manning built. I was sad to see Manning go, and I personally think that he earned the right to stay in Indianapolis until he chose to retire.
The face of the Colts is changing. Luck has many of the attributes that could make him the next Peyton Manning, but let’s not forget that some thought Ryan Leaf, the quarterback after Manning was projected by some as the better quarterback and look how that turned out. Quarterbacks are very difficult to evaluate just based on how they played in college and the hype they receive from ESPN analysts.
But as long as the Colts are rebuilding, they should let the new quarterback and coach have a chance to find the offense they like. The choice to draft Luck makes it seem like the Colts aren’t ready to let Manning go so quickly.
