Peyton Manning is a... Bronco?

Peyton Manning signed a 5 year $96 million contract with the Denver Broncos this week, surprising many people. If you had told me a month ago that Manning would be a Bronco, I would probably call it ridiculous and laugh. There are a few reasons I can think of that make this decision seem less surprising. The first reason is Manning’s desire to stay in the AFC. After being in the AFC for his entire career, Manning has developed a familiarity with the defenses that each team brings. Going to the NFC would mean that he would have to learn a whole new set of team defenses that he rarely faced before. At this stage in his career, it doesn’t make sense for him to do that. This was probably one of the reasons he chose not to go to the 49ers. The next reason could have something to do with the fact that the AFC West is considerably weaker than most of the other divisions. Going to the Titans would have meant having to play a great up and coming Houston Texans team, and also playing his former team twice a year. Going to the Dolphins would have meant playing the Patriots and the Jets twice a year. In the AFC West, Kansas City is an unknown going into the new season. They could play like they did in their 10-6 playoff season 2 years ago, or they could be the sub .500 team from last year. The Raiders are always poised to be a good team, but never end up amounting to much. The only team that can be a serious threat is the Chargers, but even they have the potential to be horrible or great and we won’t know until the season ends. The final reason is John Elway. Elway is a Hall of Fame quarterback and is the only person who can relate to Manning. He knows what Manning will need to win and that is probably one of the biggest reasons Peyton chose the Broncos. Having someone in upper management understand what you want and need will lead to fewer problems in the future. Manning can trust Elway and know that he will work to build a team that can win a championship. Peyton is running out of time and he can’t waste it waiting on promises management makes to him. Denver has a lot of the parts that make up a championship caliber team. He trusts Elway will deliver the rest and this is why he went to Denver.