Indianapolis Colts confirm pick of Andrew Luck
It is official: Andrew Luck will be the No. 1 choice in Thursday night’s NFL draft.
Rather than keeping the NFL’s worst-kept secret under wraps till Luck’s name rolled off the lips of Commissioner Roger Goodell, director Ryan Grigson decided there was no reason to stave off the inevitable: Luck will become the successor to Peyton Manning as Indianapolis’ quarterback and the new face of the organization. 10 cent college football totals
“We didn’t see the point in lengthening what the World already knows,” Grigson announced after a voluntary minicamp workout. “It’s about Andrew and we wanted to do the right thing by him.”
The decision isn’t surprising. Last week, Grigson recounted the Colts had decided about who to take with the 1st selection but declined to say whether it would be Luck, the Heisman Trophy runner-up, or Robert Griffin III, the Heisman winner. 10 cent ncaa football totals
But league resources said that the Colts had informed Luck he would be their choice to succeed Manning.
The Washington Redskins will take Griffin III with the No. two pick in the draft, according to league resources.
And the Minnesota Vikings, picking at No. 3 overall, have allegedly cut down their list of decisions to 3 players: USC left tackle Matt Kalil, LSU cornerback Morris Claiborne and Oklahoma State wide receiver Justin Blackmon.
Grigson declared last week that the team made its call a week or two earlier and that was one reason they didn’t have Griffin come to Indy for an interview.
The Stanford quarterback plans to have his whole family in N.Y on draft night. He’ll fly to Indianapolis, where he is going to take inquiries from local journalists and then meet fans at Lucas Oil Stadium, his new home field.
Colts coach Chuck Pagano asserted Luck will join the team’s offseason conditioning plan after his June 17 graduation.
“I’ve got his number now. I have been waiting to give him a call till everything else was figured out,” declared quarterback Drew Stanton, who the Colts purchased in a trade with the NY Jets last month. “Try and do that and reach out to him and make him aware I’m going to be every bit of a resource that I am able to for him.”
Stanton and Trevor Vittatoe are the sole quarterbacks now on Indy’s roster, something which will transform.
But that isn’t the reason Grigson made the impromptu statement.
“Really, on behalf the kid, you try to make things a little bit simpler on his part. Go ahead and make the choice. Go ahead get it out there officially that he’s our guy,” Pagano expounded. “The intangibles are off the chart. You know the skill base. You’ve seen his body of work. He’s a gymnasium rat. He’s a football junkie. He’s huge. He’s robust. He’s physical. He will make each throw out there. He’s a great leader in his own way.”
The Colts have not had the 1st pick in the draft since 1998 when they selected Manning.
They will also have the final pick Thursday night, marking the 1st time a non-expansion team has had both the 1st and last pick in a draft since 1967. The then-expansion Houston Texans also had the 1t and last pick in 2002.