And in thinking about this Luck deal to come, more than anything, it keeps coming back to how the Colts wasted an opportunity. They had a franchise quarterback playing against one of the easiest schedules in all of football on a seemingly-annual basis and had him with an average cap hit of right around $5.5 million for most of that time frame. Given that upper-echelon quarterbacks are pushing cap hits in excess of $20 million and even approaching Drew Brees' record at $30 million, it doesn't take much to imagine just how much surplus value Luck's deal created for the Colts over the first four years of his rookie contract.
That money simply wasn't invested wisely. It brought the Colts the likes of Ricky Jean-Francois, Donald Thomas, Arthur Jones and Todd Herremans, players who failed to impress during their time in Indy. And the roster is still lousy with middling veterans such as Gore and D'Qwell Jackson. The best veteran free-agent acquisition on the roster is 35-year-old safety Mike Adams, who will make less than $6 million over a three-year stretch even after 2016 is up.