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Football Fever

‘Manning finds a team; Tebow-mania moves

By David Hollinshead, Staff Writer

here were more rumors than
Ts a teenage girl’s slumber

party, but Peyton Manning
found a team.

After the long-time
Indianapolis Colt was cut in favor
to draft Stanford quarterback
Andrew Luck, teams were ready to
pounce on him. The first team that
rumors started swirling about was
the Miami Dolphins. It went so far
as there being billboards in Miami
begging Manning to sign with
them. Hall of Fame quarterback and
former Dolphin Dan Marino even
offered Manning advice as to why
he should sign with Miami.

Miami's quarterback situation
has been stingy for years. Most
recently, they drafted Chad Henne
out of Michigan in the second
round of the 2008 draft. After four
years, he has not progressed into a
winner, and found himself on the
cutting room floor. Miami traded
all-pro wide receiver Brandon
Marshall in a move to relieve
salary cap room to make space
for Manning. Miami was.also the
first team to fall out of favour
with Manning and forced to look
elsewhere. It sparked discussion
with players, fans, and analysts
alike—perhaps no one wants to
play in Miami because of general
manager Jeff Ireland.

The next team to court Manning

was the Arizona Cardinals.

They had traded one of their

best cornerbacks in Dominique
Rodgers-Cromartie and a second-
round pick for Kevin Kolb from

the Philadelphia Eagles. Kolb

was projected to take over as the
starting quarterback before Mike
Vick made a comeback, making him
expendable. Kolb never lived up to

those expectations, but they too, fell °

out of favour.

The San Francisco 49ers was
one team that tried to get Manning
until the very end. After just-
missing their chance to go to the
Super Bowl, they let Alex Smith
walk to free agency, and looked
to sign Manning; an awkward
situation because Manning and
Smith have the same agent. Once
Manning found his team, the 49ers
then signed quarterback Josh
Johnson and resigned Smith to a
deal with no salary bonus. What
that means is that if the 49ers
decided to cut Smith later on, they
wouldn’t receive any cap penalty.

The Tennessee Titans looked

to be the front-runners. Manning

is loved in Tennessee ever since his
college days, and the owner of the
Titans, Bud Adams, said he would
“do anything” to sign Manning.
The Titans had veteran quarterback
Matt Hasselbeck and quarterback-
of-the-future Jake Locker under
contract. Having Manning would
have put them over the edge in
hopes of taking AFC South, while
providing a great tutor for Locker.
They lost out though to the Denver
Broncos. :

Denver had quarterback
Tim Tebow (if you can call him
a quarterback) as their starter.
Executive vice president of football
operations, John Elway, named
Tebow the starter for next year,
but brought in Manning anyway.
With Manning signed, Denver can
now focus on bringing in more
free agents to support him. They
quickly signed wide receiver Andre
Caldwell and cornerback Tracy
Porter, both influenced by the
Manning signing. The Broncos are
also looking at Manning’s former
teammates, center Jeff Saturday,
and tight ends Dallas Clark and Jeff
Tamme. Free agents will be flocking
to Denver in the hopes Manning
can deliver a Super Bowl.

All of this led to Tim Tebow
being expendable, with the Broncos
looking to trade him as soon as they
could.

There it was, a few days later
and Tebow had been traded to
the New York Jets. The trade was
complicated, as after agreeing to
terms, the Jets refused to pay a
$4-million contract fee, stopping
the trade. The Jacksonville Jaguars
jumped in, offering to pay for it and
trade a fourth round pick. Tebow
eventually ended up going to New
York. As if the Jets didn’t have
enough problems.

After exiting the season
without making the playoffs last
year—after head coach Rex Ryan
guaranteed a Super Bowl—the
locker room blew up, with one
player having to be escorted
from the premises. Ryan believes
Tebow’s leadership can unite the
Jets locker room.

It looks as though it has been
even more divided. After the Jets
lost out on Manning (they made
a slight attempt), they signed
quarterback Mark Sanchez to a
three-year deal. Sanchez was their
first-round draft pick in the 2009
draft, and never looked to have the
confidence, demeanor, leadership,

or talent to start. He did lead the
Jets to an AFC Conference game,
but lost out. After the Tebow trade
was completed, Jets cornerback
Antonio Cromartie took to Twitter
to express his outrage saying, “Y
bring Tebow in when we need

to bring in more Weapons for @
Mark Sanchez let’s build the team
around him. We already signed

to 3 year ext.” He wasn’t the

only one confused by the trade.
Super Bow] III-winning Jet and
quarterback Joe Namath believes
that it’s just a publicity stunt, and
doesn’t believe the Jets front office
know what they are doing. The Jets

Sports

@ Peyton Manning

 

signed quarterback Drew Stanton
a week before they made this trade
for Tebow, promising him to be

the backup. Now after one week,
Stanton is demanding a trade. It is
unlikely that Tebow and Sanchez
can coexist. The idea is that Tebow
will be a backup, and run offensive
coordinator Tony Sparano’s Wildcat
formation. There is a flaw with
that though. The fans were already
calling for Sanchez’s head, and he
already has low confidence. As
soon as he throws a bad pass, there
are going to be people calling for
Tebow to start.

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