Do NFL teams purposely TANK for higher picks?

I have no doubt the colts "tanked" for Luck. Most obvious in a long time.

I think MANY teams make winning a single game less of a priority than evaluating young talent for the future. I think the "injury bug" is often a myth- in that teams put veterans on PUP and/or IR to get young talent playing time without the fan base going bananas.

 

THIS.

 

Loose ends. Gotta take care of those.

 

Not really. The fact that he was fired after towing the company line shows that there was a conspiracy by Jim Irsay to get rid of several people in the organization ... he played them like fools.

Irsay knew that he wanted Luck as the replacement and instructed his team (management/coaches) to tank once they knew Manning wasn't coming back. Surely Bill Polian and Jim Caldwell thought that if the owner knew they were 'tanking' then their jobs would be safe. And why not sacrifice one bad season on your resume, for another 10 good seasons?

However, Irsay had different plans in mind. Irsay wanted to rid the team of Polian, Caldwell, and Manning ... This was his perfect opportunity. Of course after a 2 win season he has just cause to fire the GM and coach, therefore he can avoid any media backlash, and in fact gives the appearance that he didn't want to tank ... but he was still able to get his guy in Andrew Luck.

Polian and Caldwell got punked plain and simple.

I mean, how many other teams would fire a coach and GM that had taken their team to the SB just 2 years prior? ... Only a team with an owner that was already looking for an excuse to get rid of them

 

I didn't say Dan Orlovsky did anything wrong. He led his team down field for a score....

 

No, there is no evidence to support the idea that they do.

But they should.

 

I think later in the season when teams no longer are in playoff contention they might jockey for position for the draft.

 

The thing is, 'tanking' is a loosely defined term that is open for interpretation. It sounds like your interpretation includes coaches going into the meeting rooms with players and saying "we are going to lose this game", or calling a QB kneel on 4th down, or punting on 1st down ... this will never happen.

Tanking in the NFL is an unspoken understanding between coaches and management, and is only done when the coaches feel very secure in their jobs.

No coach will tell their players that they are tanking, but they will start shutting players down for the season when said player might be able to play through the injury. They will put in young players to 'evaluate talent' ... how is that not tanking? It surely isn't trying to win as many games as possible.

 

Yeah there's no way the Colts didn't tank for Luck.

 

Hello? Is that not what we are doing right now? We draft Lewan.. then Roos has a mystery injury and is placed on IR... giving lewan the spot. putting Mett in far before he is ready, putting hunter ahead of washington... etc etc..

Also Indy definitely tanked for Luck. Irsay probably offered Polian and Caldwell a "severance package" to tank the season and shut up, or be fired. (so fired either way)

Peyton Manning is a great player but if the Broncos lost him going into next season they wouldn't be instantly crippled into last place. Same goes for Indy. And mysteriously, Colts jump back up to #1 in the division as soon as they get him. if you don't see it you are blind