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Report: 49ers emerge as Manning?s ?mystery team?
Doing my happy dance. I really want him to end up with the 49ers.
As the options dwindled down for Peyton Manning, many NFL insiders warned us to watch out for a "mystery team" to enter the sweepstakes. According to ESPN's Chris Mortensen, that has now officially happened. Mort reported via his Twitter account that Manning worked out for 49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh this week, and took a physical for the team. According to the report by Mortensen and ESPN cohort Adam Schefter, Manning had a throwing session in North Carolina on Tuesday, with Harbaugh and offensive coordinator Greg Roman in attendance. All accounts indicate that the session was "very impressive."
While it's believed that Manning would prefer to stay in the AFC for multiple reasons (the primary one being his supposed desire not to block brother Eli out of the Super Bowl), the opportunity to play for a team that went 13-3 in 2011 with Alex Smith as their quarterback might be too much to turn down for a man who has just a few years left and isn't coming back to do anything but win a Super Bowl. When the 49ers re-signed cornerback Carlos Rogers, they ensured that all 11 starters would return to one of the NFL's best defenses. The 49ers have taken a flyer on Randy Moss, and you can be sure that they'll be doing more to accentuate their receiver corps in the draft.
The 49ers have been negotiating with Smith, currently an unrestricted free agent, but no deal has been struck. Smith was very efficient in 2011, throwing just five interceptions all season, but San Francisco's passing offense was far from explosive -- by default, it reflected Harbaugh's coaching personality -- tightly controlled, methodical to a fault, and as mistake-proof as possible.
The most obvious question here would be how Manning and Harbaugh would co-exist. There are teams and coaches ready and willing to scrap their offensive game plans to get Manning and let him run the three-wide, single-back, check-with-me offense he did with great success for so many years in Indianapolis. Harbaugh is a very successful former quarterback himself - in fact, he's the starter Manning replaced when the Colts selected Manning with the first overall draft pick in 1998.
Since then, Harbaugh has employed strict control over his schemes at the college and pro level, and the success he's enjoyed means that he doesn't have to defer to anyone. He turned Smith's career around, and he raised Andrew Luck, the man who will replace Manning, in a professional sense.
This is for sure -- if Manning and Harbaugh can come to terms on the offense that will be run, the 49ers field the same defense they did last year, and a few new targets are added, that team will be just about unbeatable on paper. And with all the complications that may arise, that's why a future in the Bay Area might make the most sense among Manning's current options.
Re: Report: 49ers emerge as Manning?s ?mystery team?
I am not surprised by this at all. In my mind, Manning wants to come back yes for love of the game, but he wants to win at least one more Superbowl. It's undeniable he'll go down as one of the greatest QBs ever, but having multiple rings will help seal that deal a little bit more.
His chances of getting a ring with Tennesse are really not that great, sorry eclaires haha, despite the sentimental pull of TN itself, and I kind of think while he can and has had wiped the ground with the Chargers before, he probably would prefer a division where he doesn't have to go against Rivers. (poor Rivers. LOL.) so ie not Denver.
There is also something kind of ...I dont know, sentimental? symbolic? something - about him going to play under Harbaugh - the guy he replaced in Indy, and the guy who coached his likely replacement in Indy.
LOL! I don't mind if he doesn't come to TN. I'd like to have him nearby so it's easier to root for him, but since we live in Knoxville, no matter what, there will be Peyton Manning coverage. When we moved here, there was more available Colts gear/coverage than Titans, lol. It's about the Manning love in Rocky Top, no matter what! Besides TN is kind of a lame-o expansionish team anyway. I'm not sure anyone is really a big TN Titans fan...
I do like the storyline here too - it's kind of crazy all the connections.
Yeah lol three of my best friends from college are from TN (two are from Nashville and one is from a small town near Johnson City) and while I think the one from Johnson City is kind of a UT fan the other two are barely Titans fans. And I say "barely' bc the one, god love her, is a bit of a bandwagoner and can find a connection to really any team (right now she is a Michigan State fan bc her FI went there, so okay that works, also a Vandy fan bc her dad works there, so again okay, then sometimes a UT fan bc why not, and also an atlanta fan bc thats where we went to school, and sometimes a Pats fan bc her grandmother lives in Boston, and she does root for the Titans but also the Lions bc said FI is from Detroit and again, Pats, and I think she may have bought a Yankees hat last summer. But also cheers for the Tigers.) So she's the only real Titans fan I know but I take her with a grain of salt.
I wonder how much Eli being in the NFC would weigh against Peyton going there. I can see that playing a role in his avoiding the NFC East, but the whole NFC?
:::joins in happy dance:::
that team will be just about unbeatable on paper
My brain asplode. Still. This is so weird and wonderful to get used to again.
I do feel bad for him. Also because I think he could have done what Aaron Rodgers has done, they were decently matched talent wise but Green Bay was the jackpot learning situation vs a new system every year. And now that he finally has a glimpse of hope they cut him loose. But I don't feel bad enough not to want Peyton. I wouldn't feel that way if he weren't also a good guy who's been shafted by business decisions.
Find me here instead!
Ditto Manning not being a long tern solution. I rather liked the come back narrative that Smith created. And how sad that he finally got a good season when he had a coach that finally believed in him. And that same coach is now courting another, older, QB.
But I love the idea that this could make them a more formidable team. I love the Niners immensely and want to see them win a super bowl again.
Poor Alex Smith indeed. He's five minutes from my house right now, visiting with the MFing Dolphins. THE DOLPHINS! The Fins are my childhood team and I still have a soft spot in my heart for them, but they are the joke of the NFL. That Alex Smith is thinking of coming here breaks my heart.
I really am torn about this whole Manning to the 49ers possibility. Sure, I want the Niners to win. And I love Manning. But I am just not 100% convinced. I know he's worked out for a plethora of teams and he's been seen by bazillions of doctors, but he's coming off some pretty serious injuries. And one hit and bam...the 49ers are putting in Colin Kaepernick?!!? I'm such a football pessimist. I'd rather take the devil I know than the devil I don't. (And yes, I also realize one hit to Smith and the Niners are in trouble, but I'll take my chances with the healthy guy over the multiple neck surgeries guy in that department).
I'd give my left arm for Smith to swallow some pride and say "You know what? Manning coming to SF would be 2, 3 years max. I can be the long term solution. I'll just work with him and learn from him and be ready if that hit ever comes."
For the record, I'd also like to win the lottery, quit my job, move to SF myself, and live in an area blanketed with puppies, rainbows and unicorns...but a girl can dream.
(That said, REALLY? Alex Smith? The DOLPHINS? Dude, please. You were two boneheaded fumbles from being in the Super Bowl. The Dolphins are a disaster. They have a clown for an owner and an idiot for a GM. They're inept and useless in so, so many phases of the game. The fact Smith is willing to even talk to these people makes me wonder if he's really as smart as everyone says he is. The last thing he needs is to learn yet another offense and work with another OC.)
Yes, I like this plan.
I just need to mention that I saw Alex Smith at SJC once. I didn't recognize him until I was past him because I thought I knew him familiar face from HS. He's adorbs, and doesn't look football-sized IRL.