Manning should have hung it and the Broncos shouldn’t have pursued him

The Denver Broncos choice to pursue Peyton Manning always struck me as strange. Sure John Elway never trusted Tim Tebow, and it’s true that Jon Fox isn’t the type of coach who seems to have the stomach for the unconventional, but it really seemed like the Broncos had something good going with the lefty from Florida.

            Many teams wander in the wilderness for years searching for a player with the ability to add the spark that Tebow provided the Broncos with. In the second round of the playoffs the Patriots mutilated them, but beating the Steelers in Pittsburgh like they did isn’t the kind of thing that happens every year.  In fact it very rarely happens in football, and the pass that won that football game was thrown by none other than Tim Tebow. 

            The league appears to moving toward acceptance of a non-traditional quarterback—just look at the king’s ransom the Redskins gave up in order to move up to pick Robert Griffin III—but John Elway and company couldn’t just accept and enjoy what they had in Tebow. They decided they just had to get Peyton Manning.

            I was of the opinion that with his three neck surgeries, and one Super Bowl ring, Manning would call it a career. He has nothing left to prove, and with a fragile neck, he’s certainly messing with his later quality of life. I know that his doctors have cleared him, and that the Broncos wouldn’t have signed him to a $96 million (albeit unguaranteed) contract without feeling sure about his medical condition, but I find it hard to believe that Manning’s neck surgeries haven’t left him irrevocably damaged as an athlete.

            This whole Manning to the Broncos thing has the stink of a similar move 19 years ago, when Joe Montana was traded to the Kansas City Chiefs to make way for Steve Young. Montana had some success in Kansas City, but he wasn’t Joe Montana, the greatest clutch quarterback ever to play the game, anymore.

            Athletes aren’t particularly good at knowing when to exit the stage and give way to the next generation. They don’t tend to know when the league has passed them by. I’m not saying that the league has passed Manning by, but I am saying it may have.

Wouldn’t it be better to go out like Barry Sanders? Leaving the fans wanting more, but knowing that your quality of life after football is also quite important, and understanding that you aren’t at the top of your game anymore. Instead Manning could be messing with his legacy. He’s a surefire Hall of Famer, but who wants to remember Joe Montana wearing a Chief’s uniform (except for Chiefs fans since they haven’t won a playoff game since 1993)?

And back to the Broncos, was it really worth giving up the man who sparked Tebow Time to get a potentially washed up quarterback who is unlikely to win a Super Bowl?  I say no, but only time will tell.