APThe Colts have a history of forcing their franchise quarterbacks to complete their contracts before signing them to new contracts. Indy has done it twice before, after Peyton Manning’s rookie deal expired — and then after his second contract ended.
With quarterback Andrew Luck one year away from finishing his rookie deal, the Colts may be preparing to break the bank for Luck in the same way they’ve broken it in the past for Peyton.
Adam Schefter of ESPN reports that the Colts are “working on the parameters of a blockbuster megadeal” for Luck, which could make him the highest-paid player in the NFL, at $25 million per year.
Although Schefter said the contract can’t be finalized until the start of the new league year, the CBA permits renegotiations of draft-pick contract upon completion of the player’s third regular season. Which means that, as of three weeks ago, the window opened for players like Luck, Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson, and all other members of the 2012 draft class.
While some would say that’s a distinction without a difference, Luck continues to carry the risk of a long-term injury today and, if the Colts beat the Patriots, in two weeks. Ditto for Wilson, who could be in line for a deal that rivals Luck’s.
They want to get it in now before new TV contracts kick in and the Salary cap increases significantly.
Who is Luke?
With paying Luck that much, can they afford to keep Trent Richardson???
Andrew Luck is the best QB since Joe Montana.
Makes sense to me, he’s about to become THE man soon.
Wilson and Luck are the Brady and Manning of the next generation. First class talents that are an absolute delight to watch play, no matter where your allegiance lies. I would love to see multiple Super Bowl match ups between them
And then we’ll start to see how good these guys are when their teams have to deal with that huge cap hit.
If I’m Pittsburgh, this would serve as added incentive to get Ben extended — since the market’s bar will go higher and higher the longer we (Pittsburgh) put off the inevitable.
Get Ben under contract ASAP.
Best young qb in the league – pay the man
Uh, didn’t Irsay say having Peyton tie up the cap with a huge salary and skim on talent at other positions was a mistake? Hypocrisy anybody?
The first thing to come to mind as a Steelers fan was, “Great. What is Ben going to ask for now?”
But… Great for Luck. He’s an amazing QB and from every interview or story I’ve seen/heard he seems like an all around good guy. While I personally believe pro athletes are way overpaid, Luck comes across as a guy that deserves to be the highest paid player in the NFL.
Pay him whatever he wants
Luck is the shiz kids
Luck better play lights out or pats will destroy him
Forget Luck. Wilson is about to get paid.
The Colts look at it having the “highest paid player at x position” as a badge of honor.
I remember hearing Bill Polian “brag” that they had Sanders as the highest paid safety, freeny as highest paid DE, Dallas Clark as the highest paid TE, and Manning as the highest paid QB.
What would be more impressive if you got great “value” out of guys instead of making yourself feel good because you paid top dollar for them, therefore you must be awesome at drafting.
Luck deserves every penny he will get, but they better make sure they have some great players at bargain prices if they want to suceed long term.
Ummm – Wilson is NOT going to get a deal that rivals Lucks.
He will get a huge amount of money. But no one is going to mistake it for lucks deal.
PAY THE MAN
“Uh, didn’t Irsay say having Peyton tie up the cap with a huge salary and skim on talent at other positions was a mistake? Hypocrisy anybody?”
If you have a top-tier QB, you don’t have a choice.
What, exactly, has Luck won yet????
The Colts better build around Luck soon. The AFC is their’s for the taking.
Why would the Colts give Luck a deal now when they have him for next year plus a 5th year option. All at much more reasonable cap numbers and way below market price. The increase in cap hits is manageable ~7 million to ~15 million.
Unlike Seattle and Wilson, who doesn’t have a 5th year option the cap hit increase is huge. ~1 million to 20 million. They would want to negotiate now to spread cap hit out.
Russell Wilson is not in the same breath as Andrew luck. The seahawks are a history making defense. Nothing more. Wilson is a tier 2 quarterback. Not elite.
What a difference between 1st pick and 2nd pick. Good choice colts, good choice…
Meh. The guys great, but be turns it over a LOT.
8 years, 200 million.
That way he can claim to be the first 200 million dollar player in the NFL.
Irsay still hasn’t learned. He saw how the team was hampered by Manning’s record contracts and he seems to want to do the same here with Luck.
Sure, maybe Luck and his agent are looking to break the bank and have him be the highest paid but I wouldn’t be surprised if they aren’t and Irsay (like he did with Manning) is insisting that Luck be the highest paid player and won’t take “no” for an answer. He seems to think there is some award won by having the highest paid player on your team.
He really is a poor owner who cares more about his image and being seen as the cool owner than trying to produce the best possible team to win championships.
Good for Luck, he deserves it.It was reported on the NFL Network this morning,the Hawks plan to make Wilson the highest paid qb in the league next year.I think both of these players are worth every dollar they will be given. They play like studs,you have to pay em.
Their are a handful of franchise QB’s that you can win a SB with. Luck is the real deal and has been. I was actually rooting for my Dolphins to lose that year to get luck. We were 0-7 and won a few meaningless games and still don’t have a franchise QB.
For the record, no team has won a Super Bowl with a $20+/year QB. Why? Because you don’t have money for other playmakers.
He deserves it, but at the same time he needs other playmakers around him.
Luck is great and you have to pay him but it becomes a lot harder to win a title after you pay your QB the big bucks. If you look at the trend most guys got their title before they got their big money deal. Wislon, Flacco, Eli’s cap hit was $14M the 2nd time and very little the first time, Rodgers and Brees both won before getting the big money and Big Ben was similar to Eli. The Colts don’t have much around Luck and won’t be able to anything but build through the draft picking towards the end to help him. That is a tough job for that GM. I am hopping Rodgers can break the trend of QBs making top money can win a title.
Win or lose today, we have Luck. You might have a couple of more years with Tommy. Then what??
Just in case there’s any young QBs out there wondering. It’s better to come in, work hard, study, learn the playbook, etc like Andrew Luck, as opposed to coming in, selling subway sandwiches, and “building a brand” like RG3.
Seriously, Russell Wilson doesn’t belong in the same conversation as Andrew Luck.
You fan boys keep looking at his won-loss record, that’s what they used to do with Mike Vick too.
That’s a team stat.
he should get a beard bonus also
It’s amazing that elite pro athletes make more than most CEOs and bankers and we complain they are underpaid. Rich people problems…
laces out says:
Jan 18, 2015 3:58 PM
It’s amazing that elite pro athletes make more than most CEOs and bankers and we complain they are underpaid. Rich people problems…
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Depends on what CEO you are talking about. My Boss yea but we are a company of 6. The CEO of Walmart would cry if he got what Luck made, probably jump out of building.
My question is will irsay’s still be colts owner when the cap hit happens? With his history it might not matter to him about a cap hit? He may not be around.
Clearly this was written before today’s game. Wilson is stinking up the joint and clearly isn’t worth a max contract.
Wow, really? This is astounding. Never thought we would ever see the day, ever.
Brady and Montana are considered better because of the rings.
Yet the same people will claim Luck is better even though Russell has 1 ring, and a potential 2nd.
Yes I’m aware of the supporting cast around wilson. But if Luck is as good as people say he should have had one on his own by now. Hasn’t even made an appearance in the bowl.
Also very turnover prone year in year out.