Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio has an update on the Colts potentially putting in a waiver claim for Kyle Orton, who was cut by the Bears yesterday:
According to the source, it’s highly unlikely that the Colts will make a claim for Orton now.
One of the primary reasons for reluctance is the Colts’ remaining cap space of $3.0 million. With Orton due to rechttp://www.sbnation.com/admin/entries/new?community_id=56&entry_type=Story#wysiwygeive $1.588 million in base pay over the balance of the season (contrary to the $2.5 million number that has been making the rounds), adding Orton would make it harder for the Colts to account for any other moves they may need to make.
Florio's source also tells him that the Colts tried to trade for Orton earlier this season.
So, for those of you keeping score, the Colts tried to trade for Orton, and failed. They instead settled on bringing Kerry Collins out of retirement and paying him $4 million dollars this year. They handed Collins the starting job, much to the chagrin of veterans like Reggie Wayne, and for the first three weeks of the regular season, Collins was ineffective. Then, against the Steelers in Week Three, Collins got a mystery concussion, paving the way for Curtis Painter to take the starting QB reigns. Collins was eventually put on I.R..
Now, that $4 mill owed to Collins is reportedly preventing Indy from claiming Orton.
Yep, our team's front office is just that awesome, folks.
[UPDATE]: The Kansas City Chiefs have claimed Orton. KC lost their starting quarterback Matt Cassell for the season last week. Interesting side story here. Orton was very much liked by former Broncos head coach Josh McDaniels. McDaniels was the guy current Chiefs president Scott Pioli wanted as his HC, but had to settle on Todd Haley. Haley and Pioli reportedly don't like each other. With Orton now a Chief, it sets the stage for Pioli to fire Haley after the season and reunite Orton with McDaniels as the new HC of the Chiefs.