So much for "Tebow Mania."
I guess John Elway was never in Tim Tebow's camp to begin with, as sources say that the Broncos are in contract negotiations now with Peyton Manning. The Manning camp has reportedly informed his other suitors that he is no longer interested. The contract being negotiated is somewhere in the 5 years $90 million range. How did Peyton arrive at this decision? First off, at 36, even if he was completely healthy (which he is not), he would only have about 3 or 4 years left (and at most 2 good ones). His window for winnning championships is closing. Therefore, he needs a team that in his opinion is very close to winning now. He doesn't want to do it in the NFC due to the increased likelihood of playing his brother, so that eliminated teams like San Francisco. Miami is not close to winning a title (far from it actually) and they do not have any of the key parts to go around Manning, so they are out. Finally, a team like Tennessee might have been a good fit, but that would also mean playing the Colts twice a year, something Peyton will not go on the record and admit, but you know he does NOT want to do that. Therefore, by process of elimination, the Broncos were the team for him.
Now, what does all of this mean for Tim Tebow? Tebow led the Broncos to the division title last year, resurrecting them after a 1-5 start to finish 8-8 (although that did include 3 straight losses to end the year) as well as win a playoff game over the defending conference champion Steelers. However, John Elway is somebody who knows quarterbacks, and he also knows how to talk out of both sides of his mouth. He is originally from the West Coast, after all. Sure, at the end of the season he will say that Tebow is his guy, even going so far as to say that he will work "personally" with Tebow to improve his game. So when a premium quarterback like Peyton Manning goes on the market, he quickly abandons any and all plans he has for Tebow to go all in on the Manning express. Tebow in all likelihood will be traded (for what I heard on the radio to be the equivalent of a ham sandwich) or just cut (if the ham sandwich happens to be rotten).
There are a couple of options here. The Broncos did pick Tebow in the 1st round, so they do owe him some guaranteed money. Therefore, they might not be too quick to drop the hammer. After all, one hit on Peyton in his neck region and he is donezo. You don't mess with neck injuries, and Peyton is taking a huge risk by coming back this season. Elway could still be Tebow's mentor, and if there is anybody who won't feel animosity toward the club it is Tebow. He won't start making trade demands, not like he has any leverage anyway. The most likely scenario in my mind is that he will be cut. The Broncos will look for draft pick compensation somewhere in the 3rd or 4th round range, that would be my guess. Nobody will offer anything higher than a 6th, so the Broncos will cut Tebow to let him "find the team that best suits him." He'll be on somebody's practice squad next year, or deli sandwhich line, whatever floats his boat.
Elsewhere in the crazy world of free agency, now that the Peyton domino has fallen, expect other quarterbacks to fall into place soon. In San Francisco, the 49ers have to decide now whether or not to pursue Alex Smith to stay. Smith probably will feel slighted considering the 49ers interest in Peyton, so he might not be so quick to sign on the dotted line. Matt Flynn, another big quarterback (he who has only played one game from start to finish, and that was in mop up duty at the end of the 2011 season) has signed with Seattle. Now this leaves other quarterback starved teams struggling. Miami went gangbusters for Peyton, and they were burned. Cleveland thought they had the inside track to trading up in the draft to get Robert Griffin III (HAHA!), and now they are stuck with Colt McCoy. The Redskins have made plenty of moves as usual, as reported here at Caputo's Corner. Now, the biggest move left is whether or not they will resign London Fletcher to captain the defense. We here at Caputo's Corner, as well as many other fans and so-called experts all agree that the Redskins need to make this happen, and we are not (yet) alarmed that it has taken as long as it has because we still feel like a deal will eventually get done, even though there has not been a whole lot of movement yet.
No comments:
Post a Comment