THe Colt's Conundrum

As many of you know, both Bill Polian and his son Chris, the GM and VP of Operations for the Colts, were fired by Jim Irsay this week. They have been with the team for over a decade, and their firing came as a shock to the sporting world.

As a lifelong Colts fan, I was immediately surprised and a little upset. The Polians have been a big part of making the Indianapolis Colts one of the most successful franchises in the NFL over the last 10 years. They have drafted good players (until very recently, but that post is for another time), retained key veterans, and kept Peyton Manning happy and throwing. As a fan, my response was that Jim Irsay, the Colt’s owner, reacted too strongly and harshly to his first losing season in this century.

However, lets look at this from Irsay’s perspective. Peyton Manning has been a long time friend of Jim Irsay’s, and so we can assume that he would try to at least consider Peyton’s feelings when making personnel decisions. The Polians have gone on record as saying they want to draft Andrew Luck with the 1^st overall pick in the 2012 draft. That would obviously put 2 quarterbacks on the roster, one who is coming off of an enormously long recovery to a neck injury/surgery(and may never fully recover), and one who is touted to be the next Peyton Manning.

This puts Jim Irsay in a tight spot. Does he keep his aging quarterback who has suddenly turned from incredibly durable to an injury risk, or does he put him out to pasture? Does he let the quarterbacks battle in training camp and see who wins the job? Does he try to trade the #1 pick for an enormous package of players and picks and try to rebuild the team that way?

If I were Jim Irsay, here is what I would do. Just like the Packers did with Aaron Rogers and Brett Favre, I would draft the next generation quarterback while still keeping my proven veteran on the team. Irsay has said that the Colts could afford to keep both players because of the rookie salary scale under the new CBA. Andrew Luck would get the benefit of learning under the most cerebral and intelligent quarterback of all time(One of the least arguable but controversial things I have ever said), and the Colts suddenly have a backup if Peyton gets hurt again. The Colts would still have the first pick in the 2^nd round of the draft, and could work on filling some of the other holes on their roster, like a new DE, or some depth in the secondary and O-line.

Whatever the Colts do, it will automatically be a franchise changing decision, and one that I will talk about in the future!