“That’s how many zeroes?”
Yesterday, the Indianapolis Colts finally closed the deal with quarterback Andrew Luck, the NFL’s number one overall draft pick this year. Luck’s deal is a reported 4-year deal, with a team-option for a 5th year, worth a reported $22 million with a $14.5 million signing bonus.
That’s great news for the team, and great news for the fans.
Getting Luck into camp on time was an absolute must, and if it had failed to happen, it would have reflected very poorly on GM Ryan Grigson in his first year at the helm. But now that we know Luck will not miss any time, all eyes in Indy will be on him as he tries to replace Peyton Manning. Early reviews were favorable during the off-season camps he was able to attend before finishing school at Stanford, but just about anyone can look great in shorts. Luck will obviously be getting all the first team reps in camp, and I expect him to play a vast majority of the pre-season as well. My guess would be the first half of each of the first 2 pre-season games, then well into the 4th quarter, if not the entire game, of the 3rd. For the last game of pre-season, he very well may play another full half, though I expect one full quarter would be more likely.
With all that being said, even though Luck has signed, there are still two key Colts rookies that have yet to ink their contracts: Tight ends Coby Fleener and Dwayne Allen. Both are expected to make significant contributions in the passing game this year. Fleener, especially, as Luck’s teammate at Stanford. Fleener also missed some OTAs along with Luck to finish up some collegiate requirements, but Allen was impressive in the early practices according to the local media.
While it is a little confusing as to why the second and third round picks have yet to be signed, one can imagine that the front office was solely focused on getting Luck’s deal finished first. With that out of the way, you should see movement on Fleener and Allen’s deal shortly.
In other Colts news, the team added another defensive tackle yesterday – Jason Shirley, formerly of Carolina and Cincinnati. Shirley hasn’t done much in two years, registering only 8 total tackles with 2.5 sacks and one forced fumble, but at 6-5, 329 lbs, should be able to compete with 2012 5th round draft pick Josh Chapman and free-agent signee Brandon McKinney from Baltimore for a back-up spot at nose tackle.
About Steve Riggs