The Facts:
Jim Irsay won’t let Manning walk away from the Colts next season -- no matter the cost. Indy’s owner reiterated Monday that he intends to make Manning the NFL’s highest-paid player even if it takes the prohibitive franchise tag to keep the only four-time MVP in league history in blue and white. “The bottom line is we’ll get something done and when it happens just depends,” Irsay said during the Colts’ first training camp practice. “I said he’d be the highest-paid player and he may already be if we go with the tag. I’d love to see him be here and break all those records as a Colt.”
Reported by the Associated Press
Fantasy Football Diehards Line:
As the AP pointed out, Irsay has never been shy about paying top dollar for his best players. Manning signed his current deal worth $98 million in 2004. Seven other Colts -- WR Reggie Wayne, TE Dallas Clark, DEs Dwight Freeney and Robert Mathis, CB Kelvin Hayden and safeties Bob Sanders and Antoine Bethea -- have deals worth $27 million or more. None of those contracts will be as expensive as Manning’s next, and likely last, big NFL payday. Irsay said Manning’s agent, Tom Condon, and team president Bill Polian have discussed a contract extension, but the biggest obstacle so far has been the lack of a collective bargaining agreement. But what the Colts really need Manning’s next deal to provide is financial flexibility—and that may not be possible until the Colts know what they’re dealing with in the CBA.
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