Before you know it, his WR corps will be Chaz Schilens, Greg Salas and Derrick Mason. I don't think the contract is *that* bad - it's slightly more than the (in)famous Flacco deal with an increased salary cap to help. I'm not sure it will yield any VLT's though...
87m guaranteed!!! Hmmm, that might cause some issues if they don't hit on draft picks. I can see them going 1 and done for a long time if they don't fix some of their issues.
Couldn't he have taken 20 mil less and asked the GM to get him an oline and a run game? Cant see this move working out well for the Colts. Luck's a good player but he's not going to play many full seasons with the guys he has in front of him now.
Colts are definitely taking into consideration the cap increase in the next 2 seasons. Could reach 200m The base salary of his deal is at its highest this season and next with tons of bonuses prior to the season. It could work out but they need to draft and draft good. No more Richardson for first rounders.
2 things... 1. P*ts are opening another business for Br*dy and laughing their assess off. 2. Now we need to pay Fitz $20M minimum. There is now clear indication what the best QB on a team should be paid.
Luck should have taken 6/$90M all guaranteed and get Irsay to pay his "bidness venture" another $10M/year for massages and other services rendered. That way his cap hit is only $15M so the team can afford other positions. #PatriotWay
Luck is still the #1 QB I'd start a franchise with. His talent combined with age makes him worth way more than this deal. Sad how bad the cap limits players earning potential. Jason Heyward gets a 8 year, 180 million contract with the Cubs as an above average outfielder.. David Price is making over 800k per start on the Red Sox. Andrew Luck is worth every penny of that deal and it's messed up guys are risking their bodies each week and look selfish unless they take below market value so their team can have more cap space to sign other players.
The Colts are insane. That's the only way to look at this. Yes, salaries are rising and the cap is going up a significant amount each year but the Colts just locked in a guy who had shoulder issues and a lacerated kidney last year. If they'd won the Super Bowl, well maybe they were just doomed, but they went 2-5 in the SEVEN games Luck started last year. What happens to the team if the Colts go 8-8 or worse against next year with Luck starting all 16 games? What happens if he starts half a season again? Given the current roster composition you have to think the odds are 50/50 they get one of those two scenarios in play. What happens if they go 10-6 and bow out again in the playoffs because a team that wins only based on the QB can't win in the playoffs? It's just an insane decision by Colts management (Irsay) and it's very likely to go south on them.
I've been in this camp before, thinking Luck was the #1 talent at QB. If you look at what he has actually done in his career it's becoming less sure this is the case. Lifetime 58.1% completion percentage while playing in a dome. Not a good look at all at this point. 7.05 career YPA is very pedestrian also, not star numbers at all. 101 TD passes in 3 and a half seasons is pretty good but again it's not star territory, particularly in that dome. To give some perspective: Jay Cutler plays in Soldier Field in the fall and winter and his numbers are arguably better than Luck. I'm thinking Luck's career could go either direction at this point and if it goes south the Colts are going to be suffering for a long time.
Gotta take into account the poor draft decisions made by the Colts as well. They pretty much threw away 2 first rounders with Trent R and Dorsett the WR. Should've fixed the line and got a better defense. If those pieces were in place, then I would like this deal a lot more. Can't replace an Andrew Luck.
Another context piece here: the Falcons locked in Matt Ryan to a huge deal in July 2013. Since then they have gone 14-18 and missed the playoffs twice. What happens to them if they miss again this year? How can they justify a huge deal even for their QB when he clearly wasn't the key piece to competing at a high level?
I agree on all of this but if Luck doesn't make them a top level team they definitely couldn't afford to sign him to the deal they just made. What if 2015 was the beginning of Andrew Luck's decline instead of just a bump in the road? He had one huge season in 2014 and a couple of pretty good ones before that but he really suffered last year with the kinds of injuries that make you wonder if he can handle the number of throws and hits involved in being Andrew Luck. I understand the Colts marketing is built around him, but they aren't going to be able to market well if he declines and they can't afford to replace him.
And 1/4 of his career games have been vs the Jaguars or Titans. Go check his game logs, he stat pads like crazy against them. http://www.nfl.com/player/andrewluck/2533031/gamelogs
