Peyton Manning Signs With Denver

The Peyton Manning watch is finally over. He has decided to sign with the Denver Broncos.

The final teams with a chance including San Francisco and  Tennessee. All along Manning talked about wanting to stay in the AFC, so I’m not surprised that he avoided the Niners. The Titans are also a team in transition, so while there’s talent there and I can see that it would be a fit, I’m also not surprised that he decided to pass on the chance to join them at this stage.

This moves makes for both the Broncos and Manning. Denver has an elite defense that’s built around rushing the passer. Giving them a QB like Manning gives them a chance to make a run at the Super Bowl. I’m a little skeptical of their offensive weapons, but they still have the draft to address that and give Manning some more tools to work with.

As an added bonus, Manning is good enough, and a big enough name, to allow the Broncos to get out from underneath all the stupidity of the Tim Tebow hype. Tebow is not an NFL caliber QB, and his presence as the team’s starting QB was going to waste that elite defense and ruin any chance the team would have had to make a Super Bowl run. Manning is one of the few players that will allow the Broncos to remove themselves from the Tebow story without angering their fanbase.