It's Valentine's Day. Love is in the air, girls and boys everywhere are smooching over chocolates and flowers while watching the Twilight saga together. So why wouldn't Jim Irsay want his best buddy Peyton Manning back? Adam Schefter has more.
Jim Irsay to John Clayton: "We want him back. We can work out the contract if he wants to work it out. It's going to be Peyton's call.''
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) February 14, 2012
SportsCenter is also reporting the following:
Breaking: @nflcolts owner @JimIrsay says he's open to keeping Peyton Manning at reduced salary. If you were Peyton, what would you do?
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) February 14, 2012
Is this just Irsay doing spin control on the situation? Irsay didn't seem too particularly happy with Manning the first time he commented on the possibility of his superstar quarterback leaving, and he is receiving a lot of flak for it in public circles. So Irsay might just be making a move to try and show that he does want his quarterback to stick around, but it's up to him on whether he wants to return.
It's more likely that Irsay is pretty much confiding with these statements that he's going forward with Andrew Luck as his main guy regardless, and Luck shouldn't have anything to worry about if the Colts pick him. Accepting Manning on a reduced salary means Indianapolis isn't that confident in his ability going forward, and Peyton should go look and find max money elsewhere.
To talk about Manning, Luck, Irsay and the Colts, head on over to Stampede Blue. Follow more NFL Draft coverage over at Mocking the Draft.