Bob Kravitz of the Indianapolis Star was able to sit down with Colts owner Jim Irsay and discussed how the team handled Peyton Manning‘s tenure in Indianapolis.
The most interesting comment from Irsay came in regards to former GM Bill Polian who supposedly wanted to trade Manning once they encountered some issues regarding a long-term extension back in 2004.
“We need to trade Peyton; we can get a bunch of defensive players and become like Tampa Bay or Baltimore,” said Polian, according to Irsay.
Irsay supposedly shot down the idea all together. “Understand something, Bill, we are not trading Peyton Manning, period,’’ Irsay recalled.
The Colts would later cut Manning loose and draft his replacement in Andrew Luck. Irsay added that he would have liked to keep Manning as Luck’s mentor, and later mentioned that they would have drafted Robert Griffin III, had they wound up with the No. 2 overall pick.
It’s interesting in hindsight given that the Colts would go on to win a Super Bowl two years after Polian supposedly wanted to trade him for defensive help.
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