Interviewing candidates for the Indianapolis Colts' vacant general manager position hasn't kept owner Jim Irsay from tracking the news and issuing observations, denials and rebukes via his Twitter account.
"There has been no discussion of a deadline push," Irsay tweeted Sunday morning.
That was his refutation of a report by Sports Illustrated's Peter King on Saturday. King said the Colts and Peyton Manning "may be amenable" to moving a deadline that requires the Colts to pay their franchise quarterback a $28 million option bonus March 8.
That payment activates the final four years of Manning's contract. If it is not paid, he becomes an unrestricted free agent.
The prospect of moving the deadline was refuted by another source. Andrew Brandt is a former Green Bay Packers front office executive who now operates National Football Post. He tweeted that "questions about Manning/Colts moving back 3/8 date for $28 million option, NFLPA tells me 'it can't happen.' Complicated language."
Then there was a somewhat heated Sunday afternoon Twitter exchange between Irsay and ESPN's Adam Schefter.
Schefter tweeted that the Colts had attempted to hire New England Patriots director of player personnel Nick Caserio as their general manager.
Irsay responded that was untrue, said he hadn't interviewed Caserio and added: "That's the way people get false promo about being so coveted just because they don't interview somewhere; SHELL GAME..leave us out of that BS."
It went back and forth.
"Excuse me @JimIrsay. NFL told me your general counsel Daniel Emerson emailed request for Nick Cesario (sic) on Tues before he opted to stay in NE," Schefter retorted.
Irsay concluded: "Adam,don't say I wanted to hire someone I never talked to or met..MISLEADING..come on,your better than that..get your head in the game,son!"
There also was a Saturday report by ESPN's Chris Mortensen, who, citing sources, said Irsay has made the decision to use the Colts' first overall pick in the April NFL draft on Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck.
"(J)ust like '98 with Manning/Leaf..u have 2 go thru a long,disciplined process of evaluation," Irsay responded Sunday.
The notion Irsay will take Luck isn't earthshaking, assuming he stands up to the Colts' comprehensive and ongoing evaluation.
Luck is almost universally rated the draft's top prospect. He affords the same promise Manning did when Irsay took him first in 1998: a decade or more of elite quarterbacking.
The great unknown is Manning's health. Irsay has said that if Manning is healthy, he will be the Colts' starter next season. But Manning is recovering from Sept. 8 neck surgery and projecting his recovery is guesswork, particularly with the March deadline only 81/2 weeks off.
In any case, Irsay's recent comments seem to indicate a strong predilection for Luck even though NFL rules prevent the owner from speaking of the player specifically.
"When I've talked about pillars of a franchise, quarterback, general manager and head coach, if you have a chance to get a great one, you get it, because there's not a lot of great ones," Irsay said Monday, when he announced the firings of front office leaders Bill and Chris Polian.
"So you do what you have to do to try to get some of those pillars in place."
Luck would seem likely to be one of those pillars, with or without Manning on the roster, and maybe regardless of crippling salary cap implications.
Irsay went on to say that he has spent a lot of time projecting himself and his franchise into 2012, "trying to run scenarios through my mind on where the franchise is going to be, how you transcend into different eras, historically, how have others done it in Dallas, Denver and Green Bay."
Dallas', Denver's and Green Bay's Super Bowl eras were stamped by their Hall of Fame quality quarterbacks: the Cowboys' Troy Aikman, Denver's John Elway and Green Bay's Brett Favre.
Dallas and Denver had no adequate successor in place and suffered for it. Green Bay had Aaron Rodgers, the 24th overall pick in 2005.
The Packers dipped to 6-10 in 2008, Rodgers' first season under center, went 11-5 in 2009, won the world championship last year, and at 15-1, are favorites to repeat this year.
Wanting a worthy successor is only prudent. Of the range of decisions facing him, Irsay said: "I'm interested in getting it right for a long-term period of time, so we can have a long-term period of greatness and success, and not just flash up to 9-7 or 10-6 and fall back down or something like that. My vision has always been to build it that way, and to make sure that we're building it for that sort of long-term success that you want to enjoy."
The owner tweeted Saturday that he expects to have completed the interview process for his general manager position by day's end today. A mid-week announcement would quickly move the focus to his next priority: determining the fate of Jim Caldwell and his coaching staff.
Call Star reporter Phil Richards at (317) 444-6408.
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