Quote:
Originally Posted by Drewtone
The problem with keeping Peyton at the time was that there was a hard date we had to decide, and keeping him would've tied up ~20-25% of our cap. Within several weeks of having to decide, Peyton couldn't yet throw the ball 20 yards or more, and there was no guarantee yet that he'd be able to. It was a shitty deal, timing wise. Don't remember when foisting Grigs upon us became a sure thing, but keep in mind, Polian Jr., after clearing out our top-rate scouting group over the years, had the cupboard pretty bare by this time.
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Considering this, its pretty crazy that we didn't just pay Manning what was owed regardless of the risk associated with it. Considering what he did/meant for this franchise anyway. We had no issues doing so when Luck retired (albeit we had tons of cap room and a completely different management team), so why not Peyton? If he ended up being too disabled to play then sure we were screwed for the year money wise but could have rebuilt with Luck OR trade the picks for a kings ransom.
Hindsight is obviously 20/20, but I think we mismanaged this one considerably.