The first mystery of the 2012 NFL Draft has been solved. The Indianapolis Coltsand quarterback Andrew Luck are an item -- and exactly nobody is surprised.
This was the choice all along. General manager Ryan Grigson's flirtation with the media Wednesday never put the pick in doubt.
Some initial thoughts:
• If Robert Griffin III was under consideration, it wasn't serious and it wasn't for long. We wondered at one stage if there might be more momentum around RG3 as a possibility for the Colts. As he shot up the boards, the electrifying Baylor quarterback loomed as a tantalizing prospect, but Indy always saw Luck as the safer option.
•RG3 to the Washington Redskins is all but in the books, meaning the spotlight now shifts to the Minnesota Vikings at the No. 3 spot. For months, early mocks assigned USC offensive tackle Matt Kalil to the Vikings. That's no sure thing. The league's pure hunger for franchise quarterbacks has Minnesota pegged as a trade target for teams in pursuit of Texas A&M quarterback Ryan Tannehill. Is Tannehill the third-best player in this class? Not even close -- but he's a quarterback, and that's the environment we're in today.
•Andrew Luck is done answering questions about Peyton Manning in a tentative, wait-and-see fashion. He now steps in to fill those shoes on a Colts team missing pieces. Patience is needed, but after what we've seen from Cam Newton -- and even Andy Dalton -- Luck won't have the luxury of time. The heat is on.
