Are the Colts looking at Andrew Luck?

Okay, so the Colts are 0-4 following Curtis Painter's 1st start. I'm not really sure anything better could or should be expected. Manning's done for the year, you go out and get Kerry Collins (who I believe was the best option), he gets hurt. Enter Painter. He's not played any meaningful minutes, and there was a reason why Jim Caldwell didn't think Painter was the answer because he brought in a retired QB to start ahead of him. This is the price you pay for not getting any insurance years ago. Manning isn't indestructable and the Indy front office is dumb if they didn't think something like this would happen. If the Colts continue to melt down and end up with 0-2 wins, they will get the number 1 pick. With that pick, the Colts (had better) select Andrew Luck, QB, Stanford. If they do take him, they need a plan, and it should work itself out pretty quick. The 1st option, which they may decide that they want to set the franchise back 15 years, is to trade the pick. They won't do that if they're smart. The obvious choice is to have him sit behind Manning a few years and he can learn from the best. If Manning retires, Luck is good enough to start from Week 1. Luck is the best QB prospect to come out since Manning himself. There's other holes to fill, but they have some good young players that they can expect to be good starters for them in a couple years. I think it's simply too big of a risk to not snag the future of your franchise.

So...Who Does Carolina Pick at Number 1?

My guess is as good as anyone's. I'm thinking there's really only a pool of 4-5 guys that they would seriously consider taking: Blaine Gabbert, Cam Newton, A.J. Green, Patrick Peterson, and Nick Fairley (Da'Quan Bowers could be in place of Fairley). They need to decide if Jimmy Clausen is their franchise QB first. If he's not, they need to get Gabbert or Newton. Then again, if Ron Rivera is dead set on a QB, he would have some debating to do on which he thinks is the better fit for them. As we all know, Cam has some questions as far as his character goes, but he's a once in a lifetime athlete and talent. Gabbert is safer in those regards, but people worry about the scheme he had at Missouri and how it translates, etc. If they're keeping their options open and they've decided that Clausen is the guy, A.J. Green is a possibility. Big, speedy receiver to help the offensively (and defensively) challenged Panthers and their now second year project of a QB. Patrick Peterson is probably the least likely chosen, but he's there. He would easily become the centerpiece of the defense. Most likely an opening weekend starter no matter where he goes. If they go with Bowers or Fairley, it'll be a big d-line improvement after they lost Julius Peppers. The line wasn't terrible, but it could use an upgrade. Personally, as a Carolina fan, I want them to take Newton. He would share duty with Clausen as a starter and situational QB. He'd be a monster running a red zone and goal line offense that allowed him to run from the shotgun and on play action rollouts. While the draft still goes on, this largely depends on the well-known lockout situation. The court date for the player lawsuit is April 6, but we might not hear anything for a couple weeks after that.