The Seahawks Should Definitely Consider Signing Peyton Manning

As a part of my job as a blogger, I do a ton of reading. Pretty much anything that is written about the Seahawks finds it’s way to my web browser as some point. It just comes with the territory. Normally I try not to comment about the things other bloggers write. They are entitled to their opinion even if I don’t agree with it. So it takes a pretty egregious lack of insight for me to actually rebut another blogger, but that is what I’m going to do here. Hopefully I manage to do so with some tact. Be sure to call me out if I cross any line here.

What pushed me to write this was a piece by Rich Monroe over at Seahawks101 saying it would be “ruinous mistake” for the Seahawks to sign Peyton Manning under any circumstance. I know that most bloggers are prone to hyperbole from time to time, but this just seams way over the top.

If were up to me, I’d sign Manning as long as he’s given a clean bill of health. I know that there is a major injury risk. That is, unfortunately, part of the deal. I also know that this is a short term situation. Signing Manning means you’re brining in a 36 year old quarterback at the tail end of his career. A long term solution would be ideal, but there just isn’t one that appears to be available for the Seahawks right now.

Andrew Luck, Robert Griffin III? They wont drop to the Seahawks. No other quarterback in this draft is worth a first round pick, and neither are they ready to start in the NFL. Free agency only provides one long term option, and Matt Flynn is almost certainly headed to Miami.

The worst case scenario that comes from signing a guy like Peyton is that he gets hurt and Tarvaris Jackson ends up making the majority of the starts in 2012. The best case scenario if you don’t sign an upgrade at QB is that Tarvaris Jackson makes the majority of the starts in 2012. That alone should make it pretty clear why signing Manning makes so much sense.

The implication that it would be a “slap in the face” to the current Seahawk players for the team to sign Manning is actually an absurd idea. Players aren’t going to be upset that one of the greatest QBs in NFL history is paid more than they are. All they’ll care about is that the team went from being a boarderline playoff team to a solid Superbowl contender when he was signed.

In fact, I believe most players on the team would view the signing of Peyton to be a pat on the back. It would show that the rebuilding process is so ahead of schedule that the front office felt that they were ready to go big time. Rather than wait out another year or 2 of building while we wait for a project rookie to figure out how to play the position. The only player who’d feel slighted might be Jackson.

What would be a “slap in the face” would be letting a championship caliber defense and running game go to waste because of poor quarterback play.

Yes, there are players on this team that need to be re-signed, namely Marshawn Lynch, Michael Robinson and David Hawthorne. There are also players who have played above their contract who deserve a raise, like Earl Thomas and Russel Okung. And yes, the Seahawks should consider saving a bit of salary room for giving similar raises to guys like Richard Sherman, Brandon Browner, Kam Chancellor and KJ Wright if they have a 2012 similar to how they played in 2011.

The thing is, with over $60 million of free cap space, the Seahawks have the ability to do all of that and still sign guys like Peyton Manning and Mario Williams. Financially there is no reason that Seahawks shouldn’t consider signing Manning.

As long as he’s healthy, signing Peyton Manning makes tremendous sense for the Seahawks. There just isn’t a faster road to the Superbowl for the Seahawks.

There are plenty of reasons for the Seahawks to choose not to pursue Manning. Ultimately that’s probably what is going to happen. But to claim that signing him makes no sense whatsoever is just outside of logical reason. There is simply no way in which signing Peyton would be “ruinous” to the Seahawks.