Indianapolis Colts move beyond Peyton Manning era, re-sign two free agents -NFL News
A day after Indianapolis Colts released its veteran quarterback, Peyton Manning, the management moved ahead to focus on other issues such as reshuffling of the squad, with hiring and firing of some players.
Colts confirmed on Thursday, March 08, 2012, to have brought back two players off the free agency to add to the squad's strength before the start of the next season.
The players are quarterback, Trevor Vittatoe, and lineman, Jake Kirkpatrick.
Both were with the squad during the team’s training camp last summer, but were cut before the commencement of the regular season.
On their release by Colts, they became unrestricted free agents and had been on standby for a year before being brought back.
They are expected to join the squad in the training camp before the start of the regular season this year.
The move confirms that Colts’ owner, Jim Irsay, is back to his team’s overhauling, which he started as soon as the 2011-12 NFL season ended, in which Colts could only manage to win two games.
His main focus remains on the front office and coaching department, and during the process, he parted ways with almost all former managers and coaches.
Lately, Irsay has remained preoccupied with the lingering issue of 14-year veteran Peyton Manning, who, after months of controversy and uncertainty, was released on March 07, 2012.
In addition to the re-signing of the two free agents, Irsay is focused on pursuing the signing of the top draft quarterback, Andrew Luck.
Luck is now a confirmed prospect for Colts as the player has no other competitors around.
Irsay has already spoken of his intentions of bringing Luck to Indianapolis.
However, he is keeping his options open and is also monitoring Robert Griffin III, another bright draft prospect this year.
The NFL Drafts will start in April, and Colts, with their new general manager, Ryan Grigson, have started weighing their options and strategies for negotiating a deal with the player.
Luckily, no one has a better experience in drafting players than Colts, as the team has gone through this process many times before and remained successful in making the right choice.
Peyton Manning was inducted in a similar fashion by Colts in 1998 and his performance over the next 14 years proved the credibility of the team's choice and decision.
Manning had succeeded Jim Harbaugh, who was another high profile quarterback of his time.
At that time, Colts made a decision to part ways with Harbaugh and signed Manning.
That decision eventually paid off and now Colts are hoping for the same thing to happen again as they prepare to sign Luck after releasing Peyton.
The draft recruitment will be finalised once the draft season starts on the 26th of April with its first round, going on till the 28th of April, as the 2nd and 3rd round are scheduled on the 27th of April, while the 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th rounds will commence
the NFL Drafts on the 28th of April.
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