At first, it sounded like a ridiculous rumor — the type of thing that often blooms during the slowest period on the NFL calendar. Peyton Manning in trade talks? But a radio guy named Ben Allbright in Denver reported that indeed the Denver Broncos and Houston Texans had discussed a potential trade involving the five-time MVP.
And then SportsRadio 610 in Houston reported that “the Broncos and Texans, did in fact, have ‘very preliminary’ talks about the Houston Texans acquiring the future Hall of Fame quarterback this offseason, according to a source.”
But according to the same outlet, those talks “occurred before Peyton Manning signed his restructured deal with the Broncos and before the Texans signed free-agent quarterback Brian Hoyer.” And it looks as though this was either due diligence or a negotiation ploy (or both), because Mike Klis of 9 News in Denver reports that the team originally asked No. 18 to take a $10 million paycut before settling for $4 million’ worth of savings.
With Manning under a reworked deal with a no-trade clause, we can put this one to bed. But it might not have been absolutely out of the question beforehand. First, that’s a hell of a lot of money to attempt to shave off of a dude’s contract. And remember, Houston was a potential destination which Manning at least expressed some interest in when he was a free agency three years ago. And it’s a brand-new coaching staff in Denver, which means this could have been a chance for a fresh start personnel-wise as well.
The Texans are obviously desperate for a quarterback, while it’s possible Denver has lost hope that it will win a Super Bowl before time expires on the 39-year-old Manning’s career. It’s possible that, as Allbright suggested, there are folks within the Broncos’ front office who are ready to usher in the Brock Osweiler era.
But it didn’t happen, and now it won’t. So let’s all turn our attention back to deflated footballs.
