One of the reasons I follow the NFL so much more closely than college football is the simple truth that money talks, and in the NFL, no one is hiding from that simple truth. Apparently, however, money talks at a different volume for different people.
According to Chris Mortensen, Titans owner Bud Adams was willing to pay Peyton Manning up to $25 million per year to come to Tennessee. According to Rotoworld, Manning is slated to make $18 million as his base salary in 2012.
It’s unclear why Manning turned down such a generous proposal from the Titans. One explanation is that Manning didn’t want to go to a division rival of the Indianapolis Colts. To be sure, it would be difficult to play the team you’ve led for over a decade, especially if you were playing for a hated rival of your former team. The other explanation is that Manning wants another championship or two before he retires, and he felt that the Broncos gave him a better chance of achieving his goal.
Considering Peyton Manning’s normal demeanor with the media, we’ll likely never know why exactly he turned down an offer for as much as $25 million per year, but the important fact here is that Manning chose to go to Denver instead. Clearly, money isn’t everything.
