For someone that has always been portrayed to be a beacon of integrity within the National Football League, Peyton Manning sure dropped that whole act and went for one last big pay day rather than going to a city and state that idolizes him no matter what.
Multiple sources are claiming that the Broncos are going to be guaranteeing Peyton somewhere in the vicinity of $60 Million over 5 years with a total contract worth upwards of $85-90 Million. So, why does this whole situation kind of leave a bitter taste in a lot of fans' mouths? Well, consider that the other two teams that were predominately in the running to land the quarterback (Tennessee Titans & San Francisco 49er's) have a better team, a better shot at getting to the playoffs, a better supporting cast, and arguably a better schedule. The reality is that Peyton Manning has enjoyed playing in a domed facility his entire career, which any football player will tell you makes it a lot easier on the passing game, and rather than going to two teams with moderate winters and warm falls, he chooses to go play in one of the colder NFL cities in the country.
Peyton Manning may go down as the greatest of all time and you'd certainly hear no argument from me, but why he would choose to go play in Denver when his career numbers have slumped when playing outdoors in cold weather is entirely confusing to me. Especially going to play for a guy (John Elway) who obviously has no loyalty to his players when you consider how during the season and even early in the off-season he stated several times that Tebow was "their guy". To top it all off, the injury that he has been rehabbing is going to be impacted even more from playing in sub-40 degree weather starting well before the midway mark of the season. It just doesn't make a whole lot of sense until you look at the potential numbers that John Elway has thrown at him.
Denver fans will say that their defense is better...well, no it's not. Their defense is nowhere near as good as San Francisco's who had the #1 overall defense last season. Denver fans will also say that their offense has better players in Demaryius Thomas and Eric Decker...well, no they don't. Decker and Thomas are two young receivers with a lot of potential, but they aren't better than Kenny Britt, Chris Johnson, Jared Cook, and Nate Washington down in Tennessee. Finally, from a personnel stance, both San Francisco and Tennessee have a significantly better offensive line as Pro Football Focus (www.profootballfocus.com) had the Broncos rated in the bottom of the league for offensive line play and guys like JD Walton (center) were rated as one of the worst individual offensive linemen in the league last year. Sure, they can bring Jeff Saturday and Dallas Clark, but they aren't going to be able to re-tool that entire offensive line.
Finally, the schedule is really a head scratcher for me because not only will Peyton have to play a pretty competitive Chargers, Raiders, and Chiefs team, but the AFC West is also scheduled to play the NFC South (Panthers, Bucs, Saints, & Falcons) and AFC North (Ravens, Steelers, Browns, & Bengals) as well as the 13-3 Patriots and 10-6 Houston Texans. All of which have a combined record of 139-117 from 2011. More importantly 7 of those teams were in the playoffs last year and 3 of them had top rated defenses (Houston, Pittsburgh, & Baltimore). Had Peyton chose Tennessee, he'd be facing teams like Minnesota, Miami, Jacksonville, and his former Colts, all of which have below average defenses.
I get it though. How could you turn down $60 million dollars at 36 years old? I just figured he'd rather finish up his career in a city (Nashville, TN) where he would have been appreciated regardless of whether or not he won or lost, but just because he's Peyton Manning and he's a legend in that state. Even when playing for the Colts he'd never get booed by the Tennessee Titans' faithful.
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