Sequel to Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers Dilemma? Colts Owner Jim Irsay Expresses Interest With Andrew Luck Being Peyton Manning’s Successor
On Monday, Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay indicated he would strongly consider Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck if given the opportunity in the 2012 NFL Draft. After an 0-5 start, the Colts appear to be one of a few strong contenders in the ‘”Suck For Luck” sweepstakes–which means the organization could be facing a similar situation as the Green Bay Packers from a few years ago when Aaron Rodgers replaced Brett Favre as the team’s franchise quarterback.
The Packers used a first-round pick on Rodgers in the 2005 NFL Draft with the assumption that Favre–who was going back and fourth about retirement at the time–was close to calling it a career. Three seasons later, Favre was still around and Green Bay general manager Ted Thompson was forced to make the difficult decision to move on from the future Hall of Fame quarterback so the Rodgers era could get underway in 2008.
All of a sudden–it appears Irsay and the Colts could find themselves in a similar situation with Peyton Manning if the team is in position to snag Luck in April’s draft.
Indianapolis agreed to a lucrative five-year deal with their franchise quarterback this offseason worth $90 million, despite the fact there’s a good chance he may not even play at all during the 2011 season as his neck injury is taking longer to recover from than expected. In fact, there are some that wonder if Manning’s neck injury is career threatening and wonder if he’ll even be able to suit up again–ever.
All things must come to an end at some point and considering Manning is already 35–it may be in the team’s best interest to begin the search for his successor. There’s no question Manning will put up just as much of a fight as Favre did in Green Bay to play in Indianapolis for as long as possible.
There’s no question that if Luck would benefit from having Manning as a mentor if he was forced to wait a few years before earning the chance to become a starter–but all players get to that point where they get tired of sitting on the sidelines instead of playing on the field. Here’s what Irsay had to say about the situation courtesy of Yahoo! Sports Jason Cole:
“Guys like that come along so rarely,” Irsay said, referring to Manning and what many are projecting of Luck. The Stanford senior is already widely considered a near-lock to be the No. 1 overall pick. “Even if that means that guy sits for three or four years, you’d certainly think about taking him … you see what Green Bay did with [Brett] Favre and [Aaron] Rodgers and you’d like to be able to do the same thing.”
Of course, none of this may even matter if the Colts manage to turn things around and avoid the embarrassment of having the league’s worst record. But after reading these comments by Irsay, it’s difficult not to wonder what type of response he would get from Manning if the team was presented with the opportunity to draft Luck–especially if the organization found themselves in a similar situation as the Packers with the Favre-Rodgers dilemma from a few years ago.
Dan Parzych is the Lead NFL Content Editor for www.RantSports.com/NFL, where he writes and edits NFL content for www.RantSports.com.
Be sure to follow Dan on Twitter @DanParzych
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