The Indianapolis Colts did well to identify and select Andrew Luck as a franchise quarterback. But once he proved himself in the NFL, the Colts may have paid him too much money.
When the Indianapolis Colts selected Andrew Luck No. 1 overall in 2012, it was a good situation for him. The team was built to win with a great quarterback but Peyton Manning was injured. So Luck goes in, has a good cast around him and takes the Colts to the playoffs three straight years.
So of course, the Colts pay him like theirs supposed too but may have done so too much. The Colts going from 2-14 to 3-straight playoff appearances is nothing short of amazing. But he had a bunch of solid veterans around him, not a bunch of rookies learning like him.
But over that 3-year span of playoff football, those veterans got old and rode off into the Sunset. Then GM Ryan Grigson didn’t draft very well since drafting Luck. The Colts then made matters worse, signing Luck to a $140 million deal with $47 million guaranteed this offseason.
Dont get me wrong, Luck deserves to get paid but he got a little too much for my taste. Luck is making an average of $24.6 million this season, more than any player in the league. And they didn’t draft well as a whole the last few years.
So we can’t wonder why the Colts are 1-3 and don’t look like they’ll turn anything around soon. Luck doesn’t have the greatest pass protection in the world and his defense is no good. Grigson knows Luck’s cap hit is too big to go out and get some veteran help.
He said Thursday on Jay Mohr Sports, “We have a defense that is a work in progress. … Once we paid Andrew what we did, it’s going to take some time to build on the other side of the ball.” Grigson made it all about his franchise QB and he’s literally paying for it.