The Indianapolis Colts making Andrew Luck the highest-paid player in league history has been inevitable since the quarterback's standout 2014 season. Had he managed to top that in 2015, he may have inked a deal worth $25 million per season. Instead, Luck suffered the worst season of his career but still proved his value because of how out of sorts the Colts looked without him playing at a high level.
Even in his worst season, Luck managed his best game yet against the rival New England Patriots, though Indianapolis lost. He erased a 17-point deficit in the fourth quarter in Carolina, only to see the Colts lose in overtime. Luck also had the most efficient game any quarterback had against Denver's No. 1-ranked defense, pulling off a 27-24 win with a lacerated kidney.
The Colts were right to bank on 2015 being an injury-affected outlier, and that a healthy Luck will continue to make them a contender for a long time. It could be a while before another young quarterback sees a contract this rich, so there will be pressure on Luck to perform beyond the usual pressures of escaping Peyton Manning's shadow, matching draft mate Russell Wilson's Super Bowl trips, winning an MVP like Cam Newton or finally beating Tom Brady's Patriots. This has been an unusual era in NFL history as most of the best quarterbacks have either won or at least been to a Super Bowl. When Wilson won with the 2013 Seattle Seahawks, he became the eighth active quarterback to win a Super Bowl, the most in NFL history. The number dropped to seven with Manning's retirement, but the AFC South has been the only division without one.
For Luck to lead the Colts to a Super Bowl, he needs more help, but contracts such as his are detrimental to building the roster due to the salary cap. The contracts that represent the biggest roadblock to the Colts' goals, however, are the four-year extensions given to coach Chuck Pagano and general manager Ryan Grigson this past January.