2012 NFL Draft: Andrew Luck Should Get Ready to Be a Colt

The Indianapolis Colts got hot in Weeks 15 and 16, but they went back to sucking for Luck on Sunday.

The Colts entered their regular-season finale against the Jacksonville Jaguars with a chance to end their season on a three-game win streak, but the Jags got a huge boost from Maurice Jones-Drew (169 rushing yards) and were able to hang on to beat the Colts by the final of 19-13.

With the loss, the Colts have secured the No. 1 overall pick in the 2012 NFL Draft. For all intents and purposes, that means the Colts have secured Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck.

Fans and pundits alike have been putting Luck and the Colts in the same sentence for months at this point, and will keep doing so in the coming months. Though Robert Griffin III has closed the gap in impressive fashion, Luck is easily the best player in the 2012 draft class, and he has the potential to be the next great quarterback in the NFL.

Of course, it just so happens the Colts are going to need a quarterback like that in the near future. Peyton Manning is old and wounded, and the clock is ticking on his career. Ideally, the Colts will draft Luck and keep Manning around to tutor him for the next couple seasons.

This is what a lot of fans expect to happen, but it's not exactly practical. To bring Manning back, the Colts are going to have to pay him a $28 million bonus, and that payment will trigger the final four years of his five-year, $90 million contract.

The trouble is that a No. 1 overall pick like Luck will command a pretty large salary, meaning the Colts would have to commit a lot of money to two quarterbacks if they decide to keep Manning around and then draft Luck.

Even still, it's virtually impossible to imagine any scenario that involves the Colts not picking Luck. If they don't want to have to pay him and Manning, they can deny Manning his $28 million bonus, thus making him an unrestricted free agent.

If that's the path the Colts decide to take, Andrew Luck will be their starting quarterback in 2012. Presumably, he will be better than Curtis Painter and Dan Orlovsky.

Either way, Luck may as well head to Indianapolis and start searching for a humble abode. If everything works out the way it should, he's going to be there for a while.