by Kent Sterling
We're about to find out whether Peyton Manning is a cash-first or team-first kind of guy.
Don’t begrudge Peyton his cash. He’s worth every dime and then some to the Colts, and to companies who exploit or used to exploit his image to sell Sony stuff, Gatorade, DirecTV, Verizon, Reebok, Sprint, and ESPN. He makes money, but he makes others more. The Colts are still in Indy because of Peyton Manning and the space Lucas Oil Stadium occupies would still be a parking lot without him.
But if Manning wants the Colts to be anything more than a perennial 106 team that goes one and done in the postseason, he and his agent need to give as they get so that the Colts can go out and sign free agents that will allow them to compete for an additional Lombardi Trophy or two.
The benchmark for this deal is the four-year, $72 million Tom Brady got, making him the highest paid player in the NFL. Of that money, $48-million was guaranteed. Everyone involved in the negotiation knows that Manning will walk away with more than that. Jim Irsay tweets relentlessly that Manning will be the highest paid player in NFL history. That is right and just.
Manning is going to own every meaningful positive quarterback record when he decides to hang up his shoulder pads. Allowing him to walk away and reach those milestones with the Washington Redskins would be ludicrous. Manning is smart enough to know that, and so is Irsay. Neither will let that happen.
But what Manning and his agent Tom Condon need to do is back off a little bit to give the Colts the room needed to not only get the Manning deal done, but to go get a supporting cast that can compete for a Super Bowl.
The Colts as they are constituted today are no Super Bowl contenders. They are good, and are capable of beating a team in the playoffs, but the group that allowed the Jets to return the kickoff following the Adam Vinatieri field goal that should have sent the Jet on that long dirt nap of an offseason to the 46, and then was gashed for the additional 29 yard the Jets needed to give long range nightmare Nick Folk a chip shot to beat the Colts is lacking.
The only way to right the ship is to get busy finding capable bodies who can help the Colts get good today. Drafting projects like Jerry Hughes in the first round must stop. The clock is ticking – loudly – on the Colts potential for another championship.
Unless Manning discovers that the water from the Monument Circle fountains has restorative powers that turn back his physical clock, the odds of him getting better are nil. Regardless of how few times he has been sacked or hit, the body at 35 just doesn’t work like the body at 32. And a body at 38, bears little resemblance to one at 35. For those who’ve lived through it, the process is miserable. For those who make their money by exploiting their athleticism, it’s brutal.
By any reasonable assessment, Manning has wealth beyond his ability to spend. After football, he’ll continue to earn more than he can spend. Conservatively, Manning’s earnings have topped $300-million. In Indianapolis, that kind of money could buy a quadrant of the city – on the good side. By all accounts, he’s an exceptionally frugal guy who lives in a modest home (by rich guy standards) and owns a couple of nice condos. He belongs to Crooked Stick Golf Club, and likes to hunt.
What he does with his private life is his business, but there is no denying that Manning has spent less than most would. He is not a Bentley driving idiot who will run through his wealth two years after his retirement.
Given the fact that he’ll be able to easily live off the interest of what he has today, doesn’t it make sense for Manning to resist the temptation to go hard core in his dealings with the Colts? Agent Tom Condon needs to do something to earn his money, but giving the Colts a chance to surround Manning with the level of team he deserves as he enters the twilight of a singularly great career would seem prudent.
If Manning takes less today, wins two more Super Bowls, and retires with all those records, he will certainly be viewed as the best there ever was. The value of being the best ever will mean more cash than whatever this contract is worth.
The smart play is for Manning to relent – a bit. Give Jim Irsay and Bill Polian the latitude they need to get serious about filling that roster with quality, and Manning will forever be thought of as a team first guy whose desire to win outstrips his desire to get paid.
And that’s where the money is.
I fear we’ll find out he’s cash first.
Manning has always been team first he’s a tedam first kind of guy…if you followed his career you would know that. Frankly I wouldn’t blame Peyton for going for the cash, Christ the team is not him, look at the coaching staff and team management for developing a solidb teamb around him. Hate to say it but the Patriots are a great example of this. The Colts franchise doesn’t deserve Peyton anymore, Cauldwell is a horrible coach that fails to talk about or even to connect with his team in a positive light. I’m so tired of guys like you putting pressure on Peyton like this, frankly I think the Colts are lucky Peyton is sitting down to negotiate for he can always go somewhere else. Again this falls on the management of the team if they knew what they were doing they wouldn’t be worried that Peyton would need this cash in order to stay in Indy. Peyton is one of the only players in the NFL that has the attitude he has he bleeds that team he shows more emotion than anyone else and frankly the emotionless coaching staff just says it all. I hope Peyton takes the money he deserves it, besides he didn’t ask for it now did he…this is all Irsay. Peyton is team first as my husband says that’s his biggest problem he supports the stupid idiotic decisions that Cauldwell has made over the last two years in order to be a leader for that team. So dude next time why don’t you really investigate the person before you stick foot in mouth.
Ripping Jim Caldwell as horrible says it all. He’s 24-8 with a trip to the Super Bowl in two seasons. The last season saw the Colts put 18 players on the injured list, but still went to the playoffs. What kind of result do you want.
Hank Baskett grabs an onside kick and Jacob Lacey picks up a fumble, and the Colts might be going for their second Lombardi Trophy in a row.
Yes, Peyton Manning did ask for the money, and his agent walked out of the Colts Complex Thursday without recommending the Colts sign the deal they offered because Condon (and Manning) believes he should get more.
The Colts aren’t lucky about anything. They can franchise him without sitting with Manning or Condon at all.
Manning deserves whatever he gets, but if he takes a little less, the Colts will have more room under the cap to improve the team.
Kneel at the alter of St. Peyton all you want, but to do it blindly is silly.
By referring to him as “St. Peyton” pretty much shows where you lie in all of this…
And how exactly are you certain that the $$$ will guarantee the team will be improved because of it? Goodness knows we already wasted enough $$$ on Bob Sanders. At least Manning stays on the field. Polian has had plenty of drafting blunders. Even though I’d prefer he take less I also know if I were him I probably wouldn’t either after all $$$ isn’t guaranteed and who am I to tell him to take less? If he is going to get the max well I rather have him get it than a player who doesn’t see the field(Bob Sanders) or a player that is way overpaid for his position(Kelvin Hayden)
And I also think Caldwell isn’t that great a coach he just inherited a team and is along for the ride what exactly has he done to improve this team? This team was already great when he got there. If anything he’s awful at time management. You mean to tell me you were confident in this guy after that epic fail of a timeout against the Jets?
Would you feel better is the Colts spent half of their cap money and invested less in talent? Bob Sanders was the defensive player of the year in 2007. Minus a crystal ball, I’m not sure how Polian could have foreseen his injury issues. Every team has draft blunders. Some less than others, but Polian’s teams minus the first year he spent with the three franchises he has run, the guy has taken teams to the postseason after 18-of-20 seasons.
Jim Caldwell took a team that last played in the Super Bowl in after the 2006 season to the game last year. His regular season record in 24-8.
The timeout was brutal, as was the timeout at the end of the Jacksonville game in week three.
I’m more than happy to call out a coach whose time has passed, but Caldwell hasn’t worn out his welcome at all – at least not with me.
And how many SB wins has this team produced? You say you want Manning to back off but what about Polian actually fixing special teams something he’s ignored for years. A defense that actually stops the run instead of bending but not breaking. The problem is this team is way too dependent on Manning in the first place. Until Polian realizes that it will be the same bad ending to our season every year for the rest of his career.
Its one thing to invest $$ in talent its another to overpay for it especially when it doesn’t see the field like Bob Sanders who yes even Stevie Wonder could see wouldn’t last a season I mean when was the last time you saw him finish a season. He’s living on past reputation at this point. I mean really Melvin Bullitt and Jerraud Powers being hurt bothered me more than Sanders. That’s how irrelevant I find him at this point.
Hard to see that Sanders would be a chronic IR guy before he got hurt. There aren’t too many team executives I would give a pass to, but Polian is one of them. If you think you know more about building an NFL team than Bill Polian, go ahead and do it. He’s built three teams into habitual postseason participants. He understands prioritizing, so he can deal with the cap issues that a team of stars cause.
The Colts are less than a year from being in the Super Bowl, and were a Hank Baskett muffed onside kick from winning it. You may not like Polian, but who would you want as a replacement?
Really hard to see? Its a running joke here in Indy I mean office pools are created to see when he would get hurt.
As for Polian I think Kevin Colbert(Steelers GM) and Scott Pioli(Chiefs GM but was the Pats GM for a while) are better and they actually won more.
Most importantly they made it a point to not build around one player something he has failed to do. Great regular season teams but not much else we’re the Bills but we actually won a SB.
You tell Manning to take a discount but you fail to take into account that there are other people in the team that need to be held accountable as well.
It’s easy to see now, but not so much when the deal was done after the 2007 season.
No one in the history of the NFL has ever taken 18 of his first 23 teams to the postseason. That’s 78%.
Not sure what “held accountable” means. Once a contract is signed, take the cash owed to you. Manning is a special case in that he’s going to make more more endorsing products than he will ever make in the NFL. Is it going to matter to him whether he has $780-million in the bank, or $760-million? Whatever cash he leaves on the table to spend bolstering that roster, he will more than make up for what the improved players help him win a couple of extra rings.
D-you don’t even know how to spell Caldwell’s name, and where did you get such intimate details about him and about “Cauldwell’s” dialogue with the team? Kent, you’re right. No one can anticipate what Indy even does with their money, should Manning offer them a deal. I don’t believe anyone thinks Peyton has a me-first personality, and I don’t think Kent is trying to say that he is selfish. The fact is that his worth is through the roof, but without improving his surroundings, he is only worth so much. As for your assessment of the team in comparison to the Patriots, you’re right, they are a great organization, but Indy had them by the throat with their backups. So to say the team sucks and it’s Caldwell’s fault is a poor assessment. I’m not happy with Caldwell’s play calling, but you don’t seem to me to be the person to consult on this topic or anything Indianapolis Colts. By the way, if you think Peyton complacently supports everything, then, “dude, next time why don’t you really investigate the person before you stick foot in mouth.”
You hit the nail on the head with this one, Kent.
Few details have emerged regarding the offer that Polian put on the table. However, the general precepts – making Manning the league’s richest player while leaving the franchise in a position to bolster the roster in the short term – seems prudent.
That doesn’t mean that Manning and Condon should give the Colts a “home town discount”. However, it does mean that they need to leave some cash on the table so that Polian can sign some guys – Logan Mankins, anyone? – who can help Manning complete his career with multiple Super Bowl rings.
Totally Logan Mankins. Matt Light is too old, and Indy needs the nastiness.
He will take every penny that he can get. Look at his track record.
Yep, just 2 more Super Bowl wins. That’s all.
If I had a million dollars, I’d be a millionaire.
Manning needs to leave Indy and play with another team that have a good defense. He will never win another Super Bowl with Indy. Tennessee Titans are better fit for him now and he should go there since they will be looking for QB.
Indy without Payton is nothing. He deserves a
better than that and he need to get out now so he can win multiple Super Bowls. I would say that….if Indy had a good defense like (Bal,Steelers,Jets…etc) he would be on every Super Bowl.
So Manning needs to go to a team that is 0-2 in the playoffs and is four under .500 in the regular season since 2004 in order to get to another Super Bowl, rather than play for a team that has been to two of the last four Super Bowl themselves and is 62 games above .500 since 2004. That’s an average record of 12.4-3.6.
The Titans ranked 26th is yards allowed last year, and 27th in yards gained. The Colts defense was 20th, and the offense fourth.
Manning would rather have a pay-cut, but saddly the players union actually will stop talks about the CBA if he isn’t paid enough because they only care about players getting a lot of money and not the teams. If Peyton Manning gets a lesser contract, even if he requests it, the players union will force the lockout next season. Sucks because if you know Manning you know he’d rather take a huge pay cut for the team.
That’s an interesting point, and an interesting out for Manning, but I believe the union would indeed be very pleased by raising the ceiling. What their focus should be on is making sure teams spend to the cap regardless of whether it’s paying OGs an extra couple hundred grand, or having their rainmakers earn huge money.
The peril of the previous couple of CBAs is that the accelerated pay scale rewarded teams for cutting veterans when a kid could do the job almost as well. The seven-year vets on the O-line deserve a voice in this mess too.
Mike Davis racked up a lot of wins and got to the finals of the NCAA in his first year as Head Coach at Indiana….yet anyone with a brain knew he was in over his head.
Bruce Weber did the same thing at Illinois with Bill Self’s players (including one of the greatest point guards ever to play the game, Derron Williams). Since then, he’s .500 in Big Ten play and his deficiencies as a head coach are on display for all to see.
Caldwell is in over his head. If the Colts are serious about excellence, serious about winning, they will can him. It’s not personal, it’s the NFL. You don’t WASTE the final years of Peyton Manning trying to be “fair” to a coach who clearly isn’t going to get it done.
Davis went to the finals in his second year, but I get your point. There was such a clear disconnect between Davis and the tradition of the program and those who are integral to recruiting success in Indiana that he had no chance of succeeding himself. He refused to recruit (among many others) Mike Conley, Matt Howard, JaJuan Johnson, Robbie Hummel, Scott Martin, and Luke Harangody. He did recruit Greg Oden, but was such an idiot with Conley (Oden’s best friend) that there was no chance to get him.
I don’t see the same issues with Caldwell. He might not be the best coach in the NFL, although he might be very good. Time will tell. Bad players lose. Good players win. Coaches in the pros marginally help.
In college, the head coach is also responsible for attracting talent, so they are held entirely responsible for the performance of the team. Weber finally had a very good recruiting class, so we’ll see how they do moving forward.