Peyton Manning finally started practicing (more like walking at practice) this week for the Indianapolis Colts, as he is recovering from surgery to remove an infected bursa sac from his left knee. Now the talk is about him actually playing in Week 1. One would think that he would certainly be in there given that they are opening up a new stadium, and he has a consecutive games streak in progress. He has started all 160 games of his career. However the season is just a couple of weeks away. And if he does play, for how long? Would it be just enough to keep that streak going? Would the Colts start limiting him, and pull him once a comfortable lead was attained? We saw how careful Tony Dungy (and not totally forthcoming) was with Marvin Harrison last year, essentially teasing the fantasy community for the bulk of the season, tagging Harrison as questionable and stating that he was always just a couple of weeks away.

In fantasy drafts up to this point, Manning has typically been going in the second round. We would be very careful about drafting Manning that early at this point. If you're the type of owner, or are in a league that merits drafting QB's in the early rounds, we would shy away from Manning. You should be able to get Tony Romo or Drew Brees a little bit later (not too much though). The idea here is to avoid paying "full price" for Manning.

On the flip side, if everyone is avoiding Manning, and he's sitting there after Romo and Brees have been taken, he may suddenly turn into a value that may make him worth taking at that point.

A positive side effect of the Manning saga here is the potential value to Joseph Addai. If the Colts are looking to protect Manning a bit, you may see a more conservative game plan that falls into the hands of Addai via additional carries or dump off passes. Given the uncertainty of Steven Jackson and his holdout situation, this may add the additional value to him that would merit selecting Addai over Jackson (if you are on the fence about choosing between the two).

In the end it comes down to your risk tolerance if you are considering Manning as your QB.