Bill Polian and Peyton Manning had a great run over the years with the Indianapolis Colts, but after the quarterback made some contract demands in 2004, the general manager decided it might be time to trade the star.
According to Colts owner Jim Irsay, who spoke to Bob Kravitz of Indystar.com in an interview earlier in the week, the general manager came to the owner saying that he felt it was time to trade the quarterback after being frustrated in contract negotiations.
From the article: According to Irsay, in 2004, a frustrated Polian was at wit's end as he attempted to secure Manning's new $98 million contract and, in a fit of pique, told Irsay, "We need to trade Peyton; we can get a bunch of defensive players and become like Tampa Bay or Baltimore." Irsay said no. "Understand something, Bill, we are not trading Peyton Manning, period,'' Irsay recalled telling the former team president.
The Colts and Manning eventually came to a contract agreement and this may have been the first signs of the relationship cracking between the organization and Polian, who was let go following the 2011 season. Polian is considered one of the top general managers of his time and he had great success with the Colts for a number of years, although his recent drafts were not as successful as the past ones.
Polian helped lead the Colts to a championship after the 2006 season and in the past he has brought winning rosters to the Buffalo Bills and Carolina Panthers. Irsay spoke about Polian being dismissed in 2012 and the decision to release Manning and draft Andrew Luck, which the Colts did with the number one overall pick before last season.
"He understood we had to draft [Andrew] Luck; we weren't going to trade him for picks," Irsay said of the balance between Manning and the team's first-overall pick in 2012. "And he understood the cap room situation where, if he'd stayed, there would have been no Reggie Wayne, no Winston Justice, no Samson Satele, I'm not sure about Robert Mathis. We couldn't have kept anybody. I mean, our offensive line would have been even worse than it was."
The pick of Luck has turned out to be a big success so far for the Colts, who rebounded from a 2-14 record in 2011 to a playoff team in 2012 after going 11-5. The team was defeated in the first round of the postseason after losing to the Ravens, who went on to win the Super Bowl.
The Colts were attempting to get younger at many positions when they let go of Polian and Irsay pegged Ryan Grigson to overhaul the roster, which he has continued to do after letting go of Dwight Freeney and Austin Collie.
"The worst thing you can imagine would have been to see (Manning) struggling with a team completely deprived of talent, being 1-6 or something like that and then calls for Andrew to come in and play over Peyton. I could see it happening. The cap situation was that dire," Irsay said.
The Colts went through a tough situation after head coach Chuck Pagano was diagnosed with leukemia and offensive coordinator Bruce Arians was forced to take over. Arians won coach of the year after leading the Colts to a 9-3 record and is now head coach of the Arizona Cardinals.
Polian has moved into a role with ESPN and has been working as a television analyst since leaving the Colts.
