Manning, Colts to Part Ways According to Sources

It's been reported, by ESPN's Chris Mortensen, that the Colts have made the decision to part ways with four-time MVP quarterback Peyton Manning. The official announcement is expected to be made tomorrow, Wednesday March 7.

I, along with many others, have been expecting this move to be made before March 8 rolls around and his $28 million bonus is due to him. With Stanford's Andrew Luck entering the draft in April, this further proves that owner Jim Irsay would like to rebuild with Luck as the face of the franchise in 2012. So this really isn't exactly "breaking news," it's just finally becoming official.

Sources have also said he (Manning) would like to continue playing football, so he will not hang up his cleats and enter retirement just yet.

Manning, 35-going-on-36, has spent 14 years donning the blue and white horseshoe helmet, capturing four regular season MVP awards, nine playoff victories, 11 Pro Bowl selections, five First-Team All Pro selections, Super Bowl MVP and numerous passing records.

His list of accomplishments has him a first-ballot Hall of Fame upon his retirement, no matter what he accomplishes through the remainder of his career.

After four neck surgeries in the past year, teams do not seem to be too worried about Manning's health and well-being, and there's no doubt that he will find a team and turn around a cellar-dwelling franchise into a playoff contender football squad.

Unfortunately, this announcement involving Manning will not be quieting ESPN and their Manning talk any time soon (we all love Manning, but ESPN sure knows how to talk a subject to death). In fact, I think all this Manning talk is just beginning, and here I am contributing to it.

Oops.

I'll end my article with this: Luck will be a Colt, and Manning could end up almost anywhere in 2012, including teams such as Denver, Arizona, Washington, Miami, Cleveland, Jets, Chiefs, Seahawks, etc. Lets hope he signs with someone sooner rather than later, and ESPN, could you please tone down the Manning talk just a tad, maybe?

Photo credit

Andy Lyons/Getty Images

Tackling the Peyton Manning Issue Once and for All

I was planning on spending my wonderful afternoon taking on The Great Debate between legendary Joe Montana and future Hall of Famer Tom Brady. But, it looks like that will have to wait at least another day. Instead I decided to spend my time taking down the huge question surrounding another future Hall of Fame quarterback: Peyton Manning.

In the next couple of weeks we will be hearing plenty of quarterback talk, but today it was a different quarterback. Not Brady, not New York's Eli Manning. No, Eli's older brother Peyton. Of course everyone is well aware by now that Manning missed the entire 2011 regular season and his Indianapolis Colts suffered dearly, finishing 2-14 after making the playoffs 11 times in the past 12 seasons.

Indianapolis' embarrassing season ended in clinching the first overall pick in the draft this April. There have been rumors spreading like wildfire in the social media world about a possibility of Indianapolis taking the coveted No. 1 ranked quarterback in this year's draft class–Andrew Luck out of Stanford.

There's that, a huge distraction in the back of Manning's mind as he continues his rehab over the offseason, and there's also the fact that team owner Jim Irsay cleaned out the house in the past couple weeks or so.

Irsay let go of head coach Jim Caldwell, Tony Dungy's successor, last Wednesday. The very next day he relieved eight more coaches of their duties, including Coaching Assistant Devin Fitzsimmons, Offensive Line Coach Pete Metzelaars, Special Assistant to the Defense Rod Perry, WR Coach Frank Reich, Defensive Assistant Bill Teerlinck, Strength and Conditioning Coach Jon Torine and QB coach Ron Turner.

President Bill Polian had already been fired before all of this went down, might I add in. And Defensive Coordinator Mike Murphy announced his retirement as well.

The magnitude of the changes in the staff were brought to the attention of the general public earlier today when Peyton revealed his feelings on the issue in a lengthy interview with Bob Kravitz of the Indianapolis Star. I will not discuss every little thing that was talked about, but here's a shortened quote of his on the atmosphere of the Indianapolis facilities:

"I'm not in a very good place for healing, let's say that. It's not a real good environment down there right now, to say the least. Everybody's walking around on eggshells. I don't recognize our building right now. There's such complete and total change."

 He wasn't angry, according to Kravitz in his article, but Bob did say Peyton was sad and disappointed that Caldwell and numerous other coaches had been released of their jobs. But Peyton didn't stop there, he also said "it was tough" and "very emotional" seeing the guys he had been working with cleaning out their offices.

"I just want to pay tribute to all those guys. It's unfortunate because so many of them have been such a big part of so many big wins here, and this is so...sudden. Their keys didn't work the next day. There's no other way to do it? I don't know. That's hard to see, all these people leaving.

And I may be behind them. Who knows?"

He added in that he would like to play in the same place his whole career, he loves the fans and the city, as well as the stadium. But at the same time, it's obvious that owner Jim Irsay is fully entering a rebuilding mode at this franchise's current position, and does the 35-year old Peyton really want to be in Indy for all that?

He's not ready to retire yet either, despite what actor Rob Lowe may have attempted to say on his Twitter page (supposedly he announced Manning was planning to retire).

So, what exactly does that mean for Manning? Well, I would just like to say that I would love to make this my final Peyton Manning article this offseason. I do not want to spend the entire offseason talking about whether Peyton will stay or go, so I'm going to do you all a favor and end this talk immediately:

Peyton will not be in Indy in 2012.

Come March, Peyton will hit the old age of 36, and if Indianapolis is starting over new why would they want a 36-year old leading a team of 24-year olds? It just wont work. And I understand Peyton loves it in Indy and would like to stay loyal to the team that took a chance on him in 1998. But he also understands the NFL is a business, and if Indianapolis is ready to move on without him and draft the young Luck in April, then that is their choice and I'm sure Peyton will accept that.

Someone will take a chance on the recovering Peyton in 2012, and it will not be Indianapolis. Mark my words.

Thank goodness, we can get over this whole Manning situation and stop watching his every move now that I have gotten my point across. Sorry, Colts fans, but I think it's time to move on for the better of both participating parties.

Photo credit
Peyton: Joe Robbins/Getty Images
Andrew Luck: Doug Pensinger/Getty Images

Irsay: Colts to Prepare to Begin Season without Manning

Yesterday it has been revealed that Indianapolis may be without All Pro, future Hall of Fame quarterback Peyton Manning for week one of the regular season.

Manning himself–freshly re-signed to a new five-year, $90 million contract–has ruled out the possibility of playing in the two remaining preseason games, and Colts' owner Jim Irsay tweeted that the team must prepare to play the first game of the season without him.

Of course, this doesn't necessarily mean he will not be suiting up for his 209th consecutive regular season start come September 11, but with Manning still in the rehab process after his neck surgery, things certainly aren't looking too great in Indy.

Manning, 35, was just locked up for another five years, and it doesn't even look like he will be 100 percent for this coming season.

The end of the road is near for the four-time league MVP, and Indy was forced to spend a fortune on keeping him in a blue and white uni for the rest of his career, rather than spend that extra cash on adding offensive weapons and defensive firepower to improve the overall team.

It's an ugly situation for the franchise, and a lose-lose for Irsay and his employees. Irsay owed this money to Manning after all he did for the franchise, but I think they are giving it to him just a bit too late.

What makes the Manning neck surgery worse? Probably the rest of the quarterback depth chart, which consists of veteran Dan Orlovsky (former Detroit Lions quarterback) and Curtis Painter. Of the two reserves, only Orlovsky has made an NFL start at quarterback.

Obviously experience is a huge weakness in Indy's depth chart, Painter has played in just two career games (went 8/28 for 83 yards and two INTs with a 9.8 QB rating during 2009 season), and Orlovsky hasn't made a start since the 2008 season with the Lions.

Six days ago the team waived 24-year old Nate Davis, who was drafted by the 49ers in the fifth round of the 2009 NFL draft, and was later waived. Painter is the No. 2 guy as of right now, but if I were Irsay, I would go after a veteran free agent in case they need a Peyton replacement.

Irsay has been active on twitter trying to ask for advice from his fans. Why he's doing this, I'm not so sure but one thing he said a couple of days ago hinted towards the idea that he may go after a vet, like I just proposed:

"Not taking Pryor....what VET QB would u vote 4 to sign that's out there? If sum1 has 2 hold the fort early season,who u going with?"

Even if Manning does decide before the two weeks of the preseason are up, signing a capable backup would benefit the Colts greatly. Neck surgery is a big deal and if Manning gets hit hard enough he could miss some time with a more serious injury.

Available Free Agent QBs:

*Jake Delhomme...he's seen better days, and embarrassed himself in Cleveland, but would be a very cheap option.

*Chad Pennington...I would love to see Indy sign Pennington. He's the same age as Manning and has a career rating of 90.1, not a bad rep if you ask me.

*Troy Smith....if Irsay happens to be interested in adding some speed at the position, something they obviously haven't had in years, then Smith would be another cheap option and an upgrade over Painter.

*JaMarcus Russell....just kidding, I don't think anyone will sign Russell anytime soon.

The only other option for the Colts would be to acquire a solid reserve from another team via trade. They can't afford to give too much up, though. We'll have to wait and see if Irsay decides to make a move or not in the coming weeks. If I were running this franchise, I would act as quickly as possible, but maybe that's just me.

Photo found on Google, no copyright infringement intended

Sanders Era Over In Indy: Colts Release Two-Time Pro Bowl Safety Bob Sanders

The Indianapolis Colts have officially released its 5'8''/200 pound hard-hitting free safety Bob Sanders earlier this morning, according to ESPN and Twitter.

Colts' owner Jim Irsay tweeted:

"We have released Bob Sanders today. We thank Bob 4 all his incredible contributions from his Sup Bowl pic 2 def player of year honors."

The injury-ridden Sanders started just one game this season, and a total of nine games in the past three seasons. The last time the two-time All-Pro (2005, 2007) was an impact player on the Colts' defense was during Indy's Super Bowl run in 2007 when he recorded 71 tackles, 3.5 sacks and picked off two passes in 15 starts.

There's no doubt Sanders is quite the playmaker when in full health, but I think lagging injuries to his ankle, knee, arm and his torn biceps tendon which forced him on to the injured reserve this past season, will prevent him from landing a big-time contract with another team.

Don't get me wrong, Sanders' knack for making tackles in the secondary will get him a short-term contract for the 2011 season (as soon as the owners and players agree to a new CBA), but at age 29 I don't think he will be swarmed with offers. He will likely need to settle with a smaller contract by the time training camp rolls around.

Sanders has yet to play a full 16-game season, but he has had two seasons with 14 or more starts and was named to the All Pro team and AFC Pro Bowl roster in both of those seasons ('05, '07). He's not a guy who picks off a whole lot of passes--just six in his 46 career starts since entering the NFL in 2004--but in both of his "full" seasons he recorded at least 70 tackles.

There's always a chance that Indianapolis brings him back, but it will obviously be a much smaller contract. They have been overpaying him by a lot over the past three seasons. He will likely listen to any offers on the table and take the best suitable contract for his situation.

Whoever signs Sanders, it will likely be in a low-risk situation, meaning if they get a healthy Sanders the risk will be well-worth the end result.