DENVER, CO – As appropriate time as it seems for Peyton Manning to hang it up after 18 season and the worst season of his career plagued with injury, we all know there’s a part of Peyton Manning that still thinks he can play at least one more season.
With the extent of time between Super Bowl 50 and Sunday when Manning officially announce plan to formally announce retirement, curiosity grew about what exactly Manning was waiting for, as it was affecting the Broncos in regard to free agency, cap room and the draft.
That was all put to rest one day before Manning would have likely been cut by the team to which Elway and the Broncos clearly did not want to have to do, but those inside the organization said they knew that a press conference was being held at the team facility Monday morning, but did not know exactly what it was for until ESPN’s Chris Mortenson broke the news Sunday morning.
Manning would have set it up to thank the Broncos for the stent they shares together and said he would be continuing to weigh his options with other teams around the league for all we know.
The likely landing spots were Houston and Los Angeles, both in need of a quarterback. Houston seemed like a perfect fit with a stout defense, and offensive parallel to one Peyton was familiar with, a situation that seems awfully similar to that of the Broncos who won the Super Bowl this season.
MMQB’s Peter King reported that Manning interested was the Los Angeles Rams but the interested flattened when the team would not guarantee the five-time MVP the starting job over their current QB, Case Keenum. LA looks to have been the only team Manning was considering, surprising many. Manning called Denver Broncos coach Gary Kubiak on Saturday to inform the team he was retiring, per King.
With players, especially quarterbacks *cough cough Brett Favre*seemingly to struggle in the process of giving up playing the game that defined them, only time will team if a possible contender with an injury at the QB position calls Manning up in say April or May and offers him a shot for one more season.
If the Rams were still in St. Louis and needing to put butts in the seats, you’d saying bringing in Manning over Keenum even with the chance of having a poor season would arguably be worth it, but with the Rams moving to Los Angeles there should be no shortage of fans at home games, at least for now.
