Saturday Says Peyton Will Play: Don't Let It Cloud Your Judgement Jim

Jeff Saturday says Peyton Manning will "Absolutely" play football next season.

It's the first sure-thing we've heard during this whole ordeal, unless Rob Lowe's tweet ends up being correct. But it's a scary thought for an Indianapolis Colts team in desperate need of a major makeover.

Jim Irsay must decide soon whether or not he wants to pay Manning the $28 million bonus he is due and a strong bode of confidence from a trusted Colt like this only hurts the public relations nightmare that is upon the Colts' owner.

Irsay could cut Manning and play the unsure card. He could cite the fact that a player whose future is so uncertain can't be worth all that money. 

His other option is to get Manning to restructure, hoping he does want to stay a Colt and will settle for less money in an incentive-based contract.

But Saturday's comments make the public see both of those options as being unfair to the man who has been the face and savior of the Colts' franchise for the last decade. If he can play, questions will be raised as to why Irsay cut him, if he does so.

The main problem is that the majority of current Colts' fans aren't exactly that. They are Peyton fans. They don't remember the days before the consecutive 10-win seasons because they weren't around then.

Indiana is a basketball state, and before Manning came along the Colts were an afterthought.

People must remember that the Colts have holes all over the board. The way you rebuild a team in the NFL is with draft picks and money and this season was just the perfect storm. Andrew Luck is as sure a thing as we've ever seen and the Colts have the top pick to grab him.

Paying Peyton the rest of his massive contract just means we can't sign other free agents to fill the roster.

Irsay must not let this latest ploy by a friend of Manning's persuade his decision. The smartest thing to do for his organization is to move forward with Andrew Luck and the freedom to sign other players. After all, Peyton's personal legacy should never trump the legacy Irsay is building for his franchise.