Peyton Manning Injury Could Bring the Indianapolis Colts Andrew Luck

No injury in the entire NFL will have a more negative impact on its team this year than Peyton Manning's will on the Colts.  Manning's status worsened as the season has drew closer, and now that the season has begun, Manning will miss significantly more time than most of us thought.

It's become doomsday in Indy—the Colts were blown out in Week 1 by the Texans—and the future of this season looks bleak.  Despite all this, there may be one positive Colts fans can look to in order to survive what should be an ugly season.

What could possibly be positive about this?

The Colts will be one of the worst teams, if not the worst in the NFL.  Looking at the big picture, a bad season could hand the Colts the No. 1 pick in next year's draft.

That No. 1 pick would almost certainly be Stanford's Andrew Luck.  Luck was thought by many experts to be a franchise quarterback-in-waiting had he come out of college last year.  One year older, and Luck's stock is going nowhere but up. 

Now I know it's hard to have the "grass is greener on the other side" mentality when your team is set to have a rough season, but what else do you have?  Luck could be the bridge to the future for the Colts when Peyton's career is over.

There are two scenarios that could unfold if the Colts land Luck.

The first scenario would be if Manning eventually returns from his injury this year or sometime in the future.  After drafting Luck, the Colts could have one of the greatest quarterbacks in NFL history to mentor him. Luck could spend a few years under Manning and would be more than ready to take the reigns from Peyton when his time comes. 

Many top-notch quarterbacks had to wait a few years before becoming a starter and have been successful. Just ask Aaron Rodgers, although he waited longer than most.

The second scenario would be if Manning was unable to return to the field because of the severity of his neck injury. It's unthinkable at this point, but very realistic.  

Howie Long even said there are only so many times Manning can have surgery on your neck before the doctors can no longer put him back together well enough to get him on the field.  If that happens, the Colts would lose no time in finding a replacement for the irreplaceable. 

Luck could be immediately squeezed in at quarterback, giving the Colts instant hope and life after Manning's days are done.

Peyton Manning's injury may be difficult to take now, but with the Colts' chances at a No. 1 pick in next year's draft, it may be a blessing in disguise.  

As ironic as it sounds, it is more than a realistic possibility that Peyton Manning's injury could give the Colts their next franchise quarterback.