Breaking Down Logistics of Andrew Luck and Peyton Manning Co-Existing in Indy

Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay officially opened the door to quarterback Peyton Manning's return yesterday by saying he would welcome the four-time MVP back to the team if he restructures his current contract. Whether or not the two sides could come to some kind of agreements remains up in the air, but there certainly is a chance that it will happen.

Meanwhile, the Colts also hold the top pick in the 2012 NFL draft and are widely expected to take Stanford signal-caller Andrew Luck with the selection. That means Indianapolis will have two franchise quarterbacks on its roster. In that scenario, things could look a whole lot different in The Circle City, given what the franchise would have to do to make that actually work out.

Could it work financially?

Option No. 1 would involve the Colts just bringing Manning back on his current deal, which would see him representing a $17 million cap hit in 2012. This is highly unlikely, but just go with me here.

Now, using Cam Newton's (the No. 1 pick from the 2011 draft) contract as a model, and increasing it for the new year, Luck will likely agree to a deal in the four-year, $24 million range (Newton got four years and $22 million). When factoring in bonus money, the Stanford product would carry a cap hit of just around $5 million for 2012. 

That would mean the Colts—a team that went 2-14 and has tons of holes—would be investing roughly $22 million of its cap space in one position. That seems like a completely untenable situation, and we haven't even considered the problems with having two alpha dogs at one position on the same roster.

In this scenario, the Colts will almost certainly not be able to add much in free agency, as even by cutting a guy like Dwight Freeney (who carries a ridiculous $19.035 million cap figure for 2012), they would still not have the kind of room needed to make significant changes all over the roster.

Option No. 2 would involve Manning agreeing to some sort of new deal. One restructuring that could work would involve the 11-time Pro Bowler agreeing to waive the $28 million roster bonus he is due on March 8 and playing for his base salary of $7.4 million in 2012. Combined with Luck's hypothetical $5 million cap hit, and the hit that Manning's original signing bonus carries, that would give the Colts a total salary of $16.4 million at the quarterback position.

That would be the absolute dream scenario for Irsay and Indianapolis.

Option No. 3 would be for Indianapolis and Manning to come to some sort of agreement where his $28 million bonus is reduced and he agrees to an incentive-laden deal with certain guarantees to protect himself financially. With how convoluted some NFL contracts are, there is no telling how complicated it could get or what that deal would even look like.

But Manning's agent, Tom Condon, is no fool. He's been around the business a long time, and there is no reason to believe he couldn't work out an excellent deal for his client, even if it reduces the overall guarantees in his contract.

How would it affect the rest of the roster?

When you combine that savings with the savings from cutting Freeney—who has said he won't consider playing standing up in new head coach Chuck Pagano's 4-3/3-4 hybrid system—that would leave the team with some money to spend. Freeney is almost certainly gone anyway, as the team can recoup roughly $14 million of his $19 million cap number by jettisoning him. 

As things stand today, the Colts have $87,336,538 in contracts that count against the 2012 NFL salary cap according to Sportrac. Early estimates put the 2012 cap at somewhere around $125 million (up from last year's $120 million), which would give Indianapolis roughly $33 million in cap space. 

The problem for the Colts is that they have a ton of key free agents that may need to be replaced.

As Bleacher Report's own Collin McCullough pointed out, not only are Manning and Freeney's cap numbers bad, so are those belonging to tight end Dallas Clark ($7.3 million) and linebacker Gary Brackett ($7.4 million). Thanks to injuries, age and ineffectiveness, both guys are candidates to get cut.

With Freeney almost certainly gone and Luck almost certain to be added, that would give the Colts $42 million in cap space. The Colts will then have to turn their attention to signing free agents, and the list of key players who need to be added is lengthy. Guys like Pierre Garcon, Reggie Wayne, Robert Mathis, Jeff Saturday, Ryan Diem and Jamaal Anderson are all contributors, but Indianapolis will have to make some tough choices here, especially with both Luck and Manning combining to take up roughly 18 percent of the team's cap space. 

With the team clearly trying to build around a young core, it's a safe bet that guys like Wayne, Saturday and Diem are going to be gone. Anderson had an outstanding year and would likely fit into Pagano's plans on defense, so he could be retained.

Meanwhile, Garcon and Mathis have become indispensable, and if both guys want to return, I'd have to believe Irsay and general manager Ryan Grigson will do what they can to make that happen.

Where should the Colts focus in free agency and in the draft?

The first place Indianapolis needs to find help will be along the offensive line. If they are going to invest a ton of money and their future in the quarterback position, they must protect that investment. 

In the 2011 draft, the Colts selected Anthony Castonzo and Ben Ijalana with their first two picks, and they figure to be the team's tackle combination for years to come. The problem comes along the interior of the line, where I believe both Saturday and Diem could be headed elsewhere. They are both getting old and haven't been healthy, so the team can't rely on them for the future. Unless the two guys come very cheap, I don't believe they'll be back in town next season.

With the second pick in the second round, Indianapolis has to continue to address its offensive line woes. One guy the Colts should target is Wisconsin center Peter Konz, who was easily the best center in college football in 2011. 

Creating a young center-quarterback tandem with Luck and Konz would be great for the development of both players. 

Meanwhile, in free agency, the Colts should make getting Mathis and Garcon back the team's highest priority, and adding strength to the secondary and along the rest of the defensive front also needs to be addressed. 

Wayne will also likely be gone and Anthony Gonzalez's future is up in the air because he can't stay healthy, Indianapolis may need to find another receiver to pair with Garcon and Austin Collie.

How will they co-exist?

On top of all the contract and salary cap issues having Manning and Luck would bring up, you have to consider exactly what it would look like to have two franchise quarterbacks on the same roster. Clearly the Colts would have to do things that Manning isn't used to, like divide snaps more equally in training camp and the preseason, and that might irk someone who has done things almost the same way since entering the league in 1998.

While I'm sure Indianapolis wouldn't want to tick off the team's long-time star and the city's hero, the Colts will also need to be concerned with developing Luck to one day take over the position. Clearly, he'd need a lot of work, even if he has been called the next Manning. After all, let's remember that in Manning's rookie year Indianapolis went 3-13 and that was while sharing a backfield with future Hall of Famer Marshall Faulk.

The only way this pairing would work is if Manning was willing to play the role of mentor and eventually hand things off to Luck. Somehow, I don't believe that one of the best quarterbacks of all-time will be ready to retire after the 2012 NFL season. I would bet Manning thinks he has a few good years left and will cling tightly to that idea. After all, we've seen that attitude from so many players in the past it's hard to believe Manning would be any different.

Manning seems like a great guy who truly cares about the Colts, so I'm sure he would make more of an effort to work with Luck than a guy like Brett Favre did with Aaron Rodgers. But still, it will be incredibly difficult for him to help push a guy into his job.

And if you know anything about Andrew Luck, he is a competitor. He is not going to want to sit on the bench holding a clipboard next season while Manning plays. The kid believes he is ready for the NFL and clearly wants to learn on the job, not stand on the sidelines. While he might be fine with a year spent learning the ropes, any more than that would probably cause problems for the Colts.

What if Manning gets injured again?

In a nightmare scenario, the Colts would pay the money to bring Manning back, only for him to get injured again. That would mean Luck was thrust into the starting role sooner than expected in a new offense led by recently-hired offensive coordinator Bruce Arians.

Luckily for Indianapolis, Arians has a thing for developing young signal-callers, as he was the first quarterbacks coach Manning ever had, and he also mentored Ben Roethlisberger from 2007 until 2011 as the offensive coordinator for the Pittsburgh Steelers. 

Luck will be in good hands with Arians, and I'm sure he was hired for that reason. Still, the youngster would have to jump right in and make an impression on his teammates when they were expecting Manning to be the man for one more year. 

But if any young quarterback could make it work, it is Luck. He has such an incredibly well-rounded skill set that should make him perfectly ready to step in under center with the right tutelage. If former No. 1 picks like Sam Bradford and Cam Newton can have successful rookie seasons, Luck will definitely be well positioned to succeed. 

Can it realistically happen?

The Colts would surprise everyone if they somehow pulled off a Manning-Luck pairing. Right now, it seems as if everyone is expecting Irsay to essentially hand his long-time quarterback his walking papers any day now. 

As we've seen, it wouldn't be the best thing for the team's financial situation to bring Manning back and select Luck with the No. 1 pick, but it also wouldn't cripple the franchise. The real problems are logistical with managing Luck's development and still keeping Manning happy. Also, figuring out what the roster would look like around the two of them is incredibly important to the team's success.

Indianapolis has a long offseason ahead of it regardless of what direction it chooses to go in. Manning isn't the only roster decision that needs to be made, and the franchise really can't afford to miss on any players in this year's draft or spend too much money bringing back aging veterans. 

If the Colts figure out a way to keep Manning and add Luck, it may be years before they can compete at the NFL's highest level again. I'm not sure that would sit well with either quarterback.