What would you do with Peyton Manning?

I'm not going to respond to every point again as I'd just be repeating myself. Fair enough, you seem to believe that Manning didn't discuss money until after he decided, I find that hard to believe.

You say the SF GM did not want Manning, so you think Jed York did this all by himself over the heads of Harbaugh and Baalke, I'd find that hard to believe and it would be somewhat out of character. Can you post up what quote you are basing this on?

Also can you link me to where smith claims he was never offered a contract? I have heard this said also but I haven't seen any quotes from Smith or Condon to that efect yet the 49ers had continually said there was an offer on the table for alex and the ball was in his court.

Jolly Red Giant wrote: »

You are the one who brought up Baalke's name and suggested that he was more likely to be the one who was playing games rather than Harbaugh - you could be right - I can't find the link at the moment but CBS Sports nearly two weeks ago reported Baakle as not being interested in Manning.


Again - came across the report over the past week - try a google search - I have no interest in the internal manoeuvrings of the 49ers when it has zero impact on Denver.

Apparently Smith new contract is actually worth up to $33million from the initial $24million

OK so you "have no interest in the internal manoeuvrings of the 49ers" but you don't mind making claims such as the SF general manager "didn't want Manning" but can't link to a source.

What he actually said was “We haven't had Peyton in here nor are we even talking about those things internally right now. ... Is he going to play? I don't know. That's for the doctors to make the decision on and for him himself"

He didn't say he didn't want him he said they were not talking about bringing him in "right now"

Also when you said "Smith claims that he was never offered a contract" but Smith never said any such thing. Of course he was offered a contract and when he didn't sign it the FO went after Manning, when Smith got nowhere with the Dolphins he came back to SF and signed with them.

Jolly Red Giant wrote: »

Manning picked Denver - you claimed that it was because Denver offer $30million more than SF - this is false.

You can't show that it's false, I don't believe the 49ers were in a position to offer more than about $60million. This is the link I was basing my original point on, as I said it could be false but I don't think the 49ers were ever going to be able to match the Denver offer.
http://bayarea.sbnation.com/san-francisco-49ers/2012/3/20/2887244/peyton-manning-contract-broncos-49ers-stupid-money

Jolly Red Giant wrote: »

I suggested that a reason might be that Manning felt he couldn't work with Harbuagh. I suggested that Harbaugh might have been playing games and you stated
And I remembered seeing a headline on CBS that stated Baalke didn't want Manning - in other words - yes - you could be right - it might have been Baalke that was playing games.

What I was trying to say was that Harbaugh would not have been involved in "playing games" and if it was all a ruse to get Alex to sign then that would have come from the GM not the head coach.

Jolly Red Giant wrote: »

He may or may not have - I am telling you what I saw several days ago and I have no intention of wasting my time trying to search for it - it is of little relevence to me.

OK, it may be of little relevance to you but I wish people wouldn't make statements as facts and then when challenged they can't back it up, the bottom line is there was a contract offer on the table to Alex before they went after Manning.

Jolly Red Giant wrote: »

Yet rumours persist that the mvoe for Manning was designed to force Smith's hand.

Yes rumours, rumours I don't for minute believe because it would have been a move that made absolutely no sense.

Jolly Red Giant wrote: »

Actually it was when Manning snubbed SF that Baalke and Harbaugh went running back to Smith. Smith was in negotiations with the Dolphins who were apparently offering a similar 3/24mil that SF were reportedly offering.

In case you don't believe me -
http://blog.sfgate.com/49ers/2012/03/18/report-alex-smith-negotiating-with-dolphins/

Yes I agree with this he was negotiating with Miami, but there was an offer on the table from the 49ers from before they went after manning, as the article says "The Niners had offered Smith a three-year, $24 million deal. "

Jolly Red Giant wrote: »

Now - if you were Smith and you were offered a deal with the Dolphins for 3/24million or you were offered a deal of up to 3/33million with the 49ers -who would you pick? Harbaugh and Baalke had to pony up for Smith - it suited both but it was the SF FO that made the running after Manning snubbed them.

I'd choose to go back to SF but at that stage there was no real choice for either party, Manning had gone to Denver and Seattle and Miami had sorted their QB's so it was always going to be a case of smith returning to SF.

I'm not arguing that the 49ers wanted to bring Smith back once Manning went elsewhere, of course they did. I'm saying that they offered Smith a deal and when he stalled on signing it they enquired on Manning and when that didn't work out they went back to Smith.

Jolly Red Giant wrote: »

The article states that the initial numbers were 5/60million - this is uttely false - Mike Klis initially reported it in the Denver Post (and on twitter) - a few people jumped on the report and within minutes Klis had to refuted the numbers and state that he made a mistake.

Later Klis stated -
An NFL source said Manning and his camp have narrowed their choices to the Broncos, Tennessee Titans and San Francisco 49ers. Another NFL source said the Titans are wanting to watch Manning throw either Saturday or Monday.



A third NFL source indicated that all involved teams are comfortable working off Manning's previous contract with the Indianapolis Colts, which was five years for $90 million, or an average of $18 million per year

Note it says - 'all involved teams' - Broncos, Titans and 49ers.


The article is also false in stating that 'the Broncos stepped it up' - no contract discussions took place last week - Manning stated in interviews yesterday that he hadn't spoken to Condon for four days last week and told him to begin negotiating the contract after he made the decision.

Those who were interested in signing Manning knew that there would be no discussions about money - Manning would decide which team he wanted to sign for - and then say this is what I want - sign please. That is why each team were working off the parameters of Manning's previous Colts contract.

OK Fair enough, if that is the case I'm glad the niners didn't pay out that sort of money on Manning.

I did say earlier that I was basing that on a what was written and I could well be wrong. However you'd have to say that any pro athlete will always say it wasn't about the money but I find it hard to believe that the 49ers had that sort of money on the table.

I do hope he does well in Denver and wins another superbowl but I don't think there is another 5 years in him.