After a whirlwind free agency tour that really spun the NFL’s quarterback carrousel, Peyton Manning signed-on to be the Denver Broncos new signal-caller
It all began with Indianapolis Colts’ owner Jim Irsay deciding that, after his long-time quarterback’s four neck surgeries, he would rather rebuild his team around potential first-overall-pick Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck rather than Peyton Manning. Irsay made his move on the decision day (March 7th) to give Manning his walking papers rather than pay the NFL’s only four-time MVP a $28 million dollar roster bonus. Sure, the move looked all hunky-dory but inside, you know being released had to light a fire in the future Hall of Famer. At the time of his release Manning said, “I have no idea who wants me, what team wants me, how this process works. I mean, this is all so new to me.”
Well… Manning – career numbers 54,828 passing yards, 399 TDs, and 198 INTs in 208 regular season games — quickly learned what it was like to be the league’s most-sought after free agent since the famous defensive end Reggie White in the early 1990’s. Peyton was like the “Belle at the Ball” as he had his pick from a reported 12 NFL teams. He quickly whittled his large list of serious potential suitors to five teams (the Tennessee Titans, Denver Broncos, San Francisco 49ers, Miamia Dolphins and Arizona Cardinals). Peyton, in his Robo-Quarterback methodical way, analytically went about exploring and deciding which team would be his new home. All along, insiders were saying that he wanted to remain in the AFC, so to me it really came down to Tennessee, Denver, and Miami. But the “we must have you” attitude of the star-starved Dolphins seemed nowhere near Manning’s style so their owner Steve Ross never really had a chance.
In the end, Manning only talked to the quarterback-needy Dolphins as a favor to former Miami great, Dan Marino. With the Dolphins out of the running – they settled for former Jaguars starter David Garrard — the Cardinals were next to fall by the wayside as they eliminated themselves by paying their chosen starter, Kevin Kolb, a $7 million bonus. By the way, I don’t know how Kolb has grabbed millions from the Philadelphia Eagles and Cardinals even though he has more career interceptions than touchdowns and with the jury still out on whether he is a legitimate NFL starter… but I digress.
Next the Niners – who secretly met with Manning – made their push, fueled by their charismatic head coach Jim Harbaugh. But in the end, I believe Manning didn’t want to play in the NFC with the chance of facing younger brother Eli (New York Giants’ starting quarterback). So the Niners settled for their booby-prize of 2011 starter and comeback kid, Alex Smith. San Francisco even paid him a 3-year, $24 million contract, despite the fact that no one other than the Dolphins really wanted his services.
After awhile it came down to the Titans and Broncos as the frontrunners for Manning’s services and it was a fun all-out blitz approach by both sides. Team owners Bud Adams (Titans) and Pat Bowlen (Broncos) made sure their private jets were fueled and ready at a moment’s notice, if Peyton wanted to fly in for a workout or just schmooze with the respective teams’ front office. Ironically, the first team to show interest in Manning, the Denver Broncos, were picked by Peyton to be his “final” NFL home. The Broncos had decided from the minute that Peyton was available, that he and not erratic starter Tim Tebow, was the man to lead their team. Manning, early in the process, had spent two days in Dove Valley, Colorado with Broncos’ executive vice president John Elway, GM Brian Xanders, and head coach John Fox. There was some instant chemistry.
The Broncos offered Manning a veteran head coach, some young weapons on a recent division-winning team and most importantly, a strong franchise that knew how to win a Super Bowl with a veteran quarterback. Plus, Elway was determined to get Manning and brought a ton of cache’ as one Hall of Famer to another. After some speculation on his contract, the Broncos made sure that Peyton Manning (soon to be 36) knew that he was their guy by offering a five-year, $96 million contract (much of it fully guaranteed) with an NFL-leading average of $19.2 million per year.
So the former first-overall-pick in the 1998 NFL Draft will start anew in the Rocky Mountains. The Broncos even arranged for his prized No. 18 jersey to be unretired as former Broncos’ player Frank Tripucka gave the go-ahead for Peyton to wear his familiar number. The AFC West just got wilder as Manning has joined the wide-open division – the Broncos won it in 2011 with an 8-8 record. If he is back in good health – and by all accounts Manning is – there is no doubt that Denver has a good chance of repeating the 2011 season and getting back to the playoffs.
Heck… no disrespect to Tebow, but now the Broncos will not be hampered by an under 50% passer and will not have to tweak their offense to fit his inabilities. Broncos’ running back Willis McGahee said of the signing of Manning, “It is music to my ears.” If Denver could make it to the divisional round of the NFL Playoffs with Tebow, then the sky is the limit with a healthy Peyton Manning.
Manning will make players like wide receivers DeMaryius Thomas and Eric Decker, and running back Knowshon Moreno that much greater and it will be fun to see if he can comeback to his MVP form. Now that the Peyton Circus has pulled to the curb, the Broncos can move onto the draft and their 2012 season plans. The first step was trading Tebow to the New York Jets (sent with a seventh-round draft pick in return for one each fourth and sixth-round picks).
I like that the Broncos were aggressive and got Manning. We all knew they could not win a Super Bowl with Tebow and Elway/Fox never wanted him in the first place. There is only one Peyton Manning and although brother Eli is definitely now in his older brother’s neighborhood, this was a chance for the Broncos to get one of the NFL’s elite passers. Make “no bones” about it… the National Football League is a passing league first and Elway got one of the best. Manning should do well in the AFC West and hopefully, in this late-career move he is closer to John Elway at his age rather than a broken-down Johnny Unitas, playing for the San Diego Chargers in the early 1970′s.
I know that everyone is excited that the “Biggest Free Agent in NFL History” now has a home and it will be interesting to see where the future leads for Manning and Broncos.
Lloyd Vance is the Editor for Taking It to the House as well as an award-winning member of the Pro Football Writers of America (PFWA). Lloyd can be reached on Twitter @lloydvance_nfl