The big story recently on the national level when it comes to a player considering retirement has obviously been Broncos' quarterback Peyton Manning, as he's deciding whether to return for an eighteenth year (though it's fully expected that he will). While that's a situation with the greatest player in Colts franchise history, there are a couple of other significant current Colts who considering retirement as well in wide receiver Reggie Wayne and defensive end Cory Redding.
When General Manager Ryan Grigson and head coach Chuck Pagano met with the media today at the NFL Combine, however, neither had any update to give on the status of either player.
"Really have not [had any conversations about that," Pagano said. "Do not have an update as far as those two guys right now. We'll just kind of wait and see on that, where they're at, where they're mindset is moving forward."
A follow-up question was asked to the head coach about his close relationship with Wayne and whether he would be the first one to know when Wayne decides. "I would think so, yeah," Pagano said. "He's got my number, I've got his. We have talked a lot. I think when the time comes , we all know he's going to have to go through some things in the offsason from a physical standpoint like many of them have to, so I'm sure he'll reach out when the time is right."
Ryan Grigson didn't give much of an update either. "We're still having those discussions," Grigson said when asked specifically about Wayne. "We still have to know if he wants to play, and there's certain guys we're waiting to see if they still want to play this game or not. We're still in that point of a lot of things up in the air. But Reggie is an exceptional player, everyone in this room knows what he means to this franchise and what he means to this organization so we'll be very careful and do our due diligence on every move we make."
Making matters more complicated is the fact that Wayne is recovering from surgery for a torn triceps that he played through in 2014 and the fact that both Wayne and Redding will be unrestricted free agents this offseason. If one or both of them want to come back, however, the Colts would make a way for that to happen. Right now, though, we just don't know if one, both, or neither of them are going to choose to return to the Colts, and neither Grigson nor Pagano have much of an update to give.
With that said, however, a decision is expected soon.
Pagano told Colts.com's Steve Andress that a decision "will probably be sooner than later." With the new league year starting on March 10, it's very safe to assume that we will know at least by then, if not much sooner. Either way, it will be an interesting storyline to follow over the next few weeks on whether two of the most notable and favorite Colts will return or whether they will decide to retire. Right now, it's still unknown.
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