Peyton’s Big Move: Seattle?

Change the Color and Mascot and dream Seattle

   Much has been made recently of the Indianapolis Colts possibly releasing future HOF QB Peyton Manning in the coming weeks. Indy holds the #1 overall pick in April’s NFL Draft which everyone believes will be used on Stanford QB Andrew Luck. Peyton is due $28Million roster bonus on March 8^th, and the neck injury that kept him out of action all season still isn’t at 100%. All signs lead to Manning being the next QB to follow in the steps of Joe Montana leaving San Francisco and joining the Kansas City Chiefs to end his HOF career.

   With all of this talk about #18 hitting the open market NFL.com’s Jason La Canfora floated the idea that the Seattle Seahawks, the Arizona Cardinals, and the Washington Redskins would all be favorable and interested suitors for his one last shot at a Super Bowl before he hangs up his cleats. Eli plays in New York so I don’t see him wanting to go to Washington, and the Bidwills just shelled out a ton of money for Kevin Kolb (a contract that I suppose they could get out of if they wanted to) and are notoriously cheap owners, so that knocks the Cardinals out. That leaves the Seattle Seahawks and the richest owner in the NFL, Paul Allen, doing serious bidding for his services in this hypothetical free agency period.

   How much sense does this make? As fans do we want an aging and potentially injury prone Peyton Manning in Seattle? During the regular season my answer might have been no. We were a semi-playoff contender with Tarvaris Jackson at QB, we were on track to snag one of Matt Barkley or Robert Griffin III in the draft, and I was fine with that. Draft Barkley or RGIII and let Tarvaris handle the starter roll until one of those guys is ready to go. When Barkley decided to stay at USC though, my perspective changed.

   Without Barkley, the 2012 NFL draft is lacking in top end 1^st round QBs. Luck and RGIII are both going to go in the top 5-7. The way we’re building this team, I don’t see Pete and John selling the farm to try to rise up to a point where they could take Griffin. In that vein, you sign Peyton to a fair deal. His injury concern is going to drive his price down a bit, but even so Seattle has the cap room to make a splash if needed. He’s going to get a starter contract that much is sure, but he’s not going to get the Brady/Breese contract like he would have prior to his neck problems. Use the 11^th overall pick on a pass rush DE or OLB to shore up that weakness in the defense, then take a flyer on a guy like Kirk Cousins or Brock Ossweiller in the 2^nd round to groom under Tarvaris who knows the system well and Peyton Manning who is the most cerebral QB in the modern history of the NFL. With Manning under center Seattle instantly becomes the favorites to win the NFC West, and is probably getting press like in 2003 and 2004 when they were a trendy Super Bowl pick. 

   What of the negatives though? Signing Manning to a contract you assume that he walks in as the starter from day 1, what does that say about Carroll’s comPETE mantra? How would the locker room who is by all accounts firmly behind Tarvaris Jackson feel about bringing Manning in? Then you have to look at what John and Pete said about the way Tarvaris was treated in Minnesota during the Brett Favre fiasco, would they be willing to risk the same type of situation here?

   First off, this is Peyton Manning, not Brett Favre. Tarvaris and everyone else in Seattle’s locker room are professionals and I have to think that even Jackson’s best friends like Sidney Rice would be absolutely giddy at the chance to catch passes from a guy like Peyton. Most of the drama surrounding Favre centered around the way he left Green Bay, and his antics about whether or not he would retire. We don’t have that same situation with Manning. Peyton wants to stay a Colt if at all possible, but the financials and his health, along with the whole sale change in the coaching and front office might not make that possible. This isn’t a guy forcing his release; this is a guy getting kicked out of his house.

  My only real concern with this deal is Peyton’s health, and his ability to thrive behind Seattle’s young offensive line. Manning has played most of his career with an average at best offensive line. His quick reads and lightning fast release have kept him mostly injury free and clean over the course of his career. With Okung and Unger playing at a high level all last season and a year of seasoning plus off season workouts for Moffitt and Carpenter, this might be the most talented O line Peyton has played with his entire career. Sure they’re young and need improvement, but the talent is unmistakable.

   One other thing to think about, Peyton will never truly be a “Seahawk.” He will always be remembered for his play in Indianapolis. When we win a Super Bowl with him as the QB it will be all about him to the national media, not about how he came to a team on the cusp and helped put them over the top. To ESPN it would be about how Peyton took perennial door mat Seattle and turned them into champions. Nobody will remember us beating New York on the road in 2011, or the way we handled Baltimore. How we gave Dallas all they could handle, or went step for step with and were the only team in the NFL to score a rushing TD on San Francisco in week 16. All of that would be forgotten in the media love fest for Peyton Manning. That 2005 team that came up short in SBXL? Conveniently forgotten.

   Is that worth the price of a win in SBXLVII? I say yes. Who gives a damn what the talking heads have to say? Do fans in Pittsburgh care that everyone thinks that at both of their last Super Bowl wins are possibly tainted? You bet your ass they don’t! To reach the pinnacle of football excellence would make almost anything worth it to the players and the coaches and 98% of NFL fans. It’s all about the Super Bowl. At the end of the season there are 31 teams that are disappointed. It doesn’t matter how you get there or how you win, it only matters that you won.

   What if we won 2 in a row with Peyton? Can you believe the shit storm that would bring? It wouldn’t be about Peyton anymore after that. It would be about how Indy wasted most of his career with bad defenses and an inability to get a solid running game to support him. It would be about how Seattle was the complete team lacking only a QB to lead them to glory. Win two rings with Peyton and he’s no longer a Colt for many people. After that, the Colts are the team that wasted him and the Seahawks are the team that gave him his true place amongst the elite.

   Seattle is a team on the verge of greatness. The 2011 Seahawks were a few bounces away from possibly a 10 or 11 win season. With Peyton at the helm we would have likely seen 12 or 13. The defense is young, hungry, and all pro caliber. Earl Thomas is 22. He’s starting in the pro-bowl on Sunday and was voted to the 2^nd team AP All-Pro team. Three quarters of the secondary in the Pro-Bowl are Seahawks. We sent both of our backs to Hawaii in Marshawn Lynch, and Michael Robinson. The NFL is a business. When it comes down to it, successful teams make the right business decisions at the right time. They don’t hold onto or favor players based upon their past performance for sentimental reasons. They go out, and they lay down the money and they do what it takes to win and keep winning. As long as he’s healthy and cleared to play, bringing Peyton Manning to Seattle is a smart business decision. He instantly raises the play and the expectations of every player on offense. Signing Peyton Manning at this point is like when Jordan came out of retirement to win a few more rings with the Bulls. Chicago was bad w/o Michael but they were the best in the NBA even after he took a few years off of basketball. That is the impact Peyton Manning would have.

  There are good reasons to feel either way about bringing Peyton Manning to the PNW. To me though, it feels like a no-brainer. If he’s healthy, and we can do it without killing all of our cap room, you have to do it. I would like to be the first to welcome our new football overlord to Seattle. Free agency can’t come soon enough.