Manning Cleared to play! A KC connection. How bout that?

Peyton Manning's Medical Clearance Makes Him The Perfect Fit In Every Way For Kansas City Chiefs


Peyton Manning has gotten the green light. And that’s the news that everyone has been waiting for.

Here’s the scenario. Andrew Luck is the sure thing. Robert Griffin III is filled with potential. Matt Flynn is the intriguing back-up. Other than that, the quarterback class for 2012 between the NFL Draft and the free agency class is uninspiring. Sure, Ryan Tannehill or Brandon Weeden might turn out to be fine starting quarterbacks. Perhaps a team could do well with Jason Campbell under center. But for the most part, there is only one sure thing on the market. Even Griffin and Flynn are questionable properties, albeit exciting ones.

Obviously there are more than three quarterback needy teams in the NFL. The Chiefs might not count themselves among them. But it’s hard to find anybody fan or media who believes that Matt Cassel has proven himself to be the consistent winner as the starter for the Chiefs that the team hoped he’d turn out to be if given the full-time keys.

You live and die by the quarterback position in the NFL, and it’s hard to believe that even Scott Pioli would believe he’s set for the long term with Cassel. That said, if they are going to go after someone — that someone is not on the market. Unless that someone is Peyton Manning.

The only way the Chiefs are truly going to improve at the quarterback position is if Peyton Manning is healthy and available:

1. He’s finally been cleared medically. Word today is as follows: The sources said Watkins examined Manning recently in Los Angeles and concluded the stability in his neck would have allowed the quarterback to play this Sunday if the nerves in his arm had regenerated to a satisfactory performance level. Watkins also instructed the quarterback to continue an aggressive rehabilitation path that provides an optimistic outlook for Manning to play in 2012.

2. He has to be available for trade or signing. Watching the drama go down in Naptown between Colts owner Jim Irsay and Manning tells you all you need to know about their ability to co-exist while seeing other people (on the field). Andrew Luck is going to be the man. Chuck Pagano is going to be the coach. There’s no way Manning comes back for a victory lap with the Colts.

That means that Manning will be both healthy and available. And check the line in that healthy paragraph: he will likely be ready for this next season. Those were the magic words.

There is no way that Scott Pioli is going to go for Matt Flynn after already trying the back-up quarterback route and paying him rather well to do so. Cassel was the one experiment there, and it’s hard to imagine the Chiefs trading draft picks and paying a big salary to yet another unproven NFL back-up quarterback three years apart. Just won’t happen.

There’s also no way that Pioli trades up in this draft. Unless Griffin falls a bit in the draft order (not happening), then the Chiefs are out of it from the outset. The team has too many holes to trade so many draft assets. Whether or not the fans think they will go for it, the perceived value by the KC front office simply won’t allow it. That’s called cost-prohibitive and the Chiefs lack the roster depth to accommodate that loss.

That means that the team will not make a move at quarterback other than bringing in veteran competition for the starting job a la Jason Campbell or Kyle Orton. Unless someone else is in the mix.

Consider Manning. The Chiefs have the players at the right skill positions to make Manning happy. He loves a Dallas Clark type of tight end and he has the second coming of him that’s even an Iowa product in Tony Moeaki. He has a new first round stud in Jon Baldwin who should develop quite well to go with veteran receivers like Steve Breaston and, presumably, Dwayne Bowe, who continues to show just how amazing of a receiver he is year after year despite his detractors.

The running game would instantly become better than anything Manning has ever enjoyed in Indianapolis as well. Jamaal Charles will be coming off of major surgery and rehab, but he’s young, dynamic and things have been reportedly going well there. The Chiefs should be expected to add another body and Dexter McCluster also keeps things interesting. Manning is smart enough to help whoever the new offensive coordinator is to utilize all of the talent properly.

Even more, Manning is owed a $28 million roster bonus that will likely earn him his freedom from the Colts. It’s hard to tell monetarily what will happen between the Colts and their franchise icon, but some sort of deal will be made. The thing is, Scott Pioli and Clark Hunt are sitting on around that same amount of unspent cash from last year. In other words, if the Chiefs need to absorb a major payment and/or pony up something major for Peyton, the money is absolutely there and available.

More than anything, the Chiefs have a major public relations nightmare on their hands. They have an outstanding lawsuit filed against the team alleging age discrimination on the part of the powers-that-be in the front office. They have Todd Haley’s allegations (and other former employees) that the team had a paranoid, controlling, manipulative environment that even included phone tampering and spying. They have the unspent money that no one has explained well to the fan base who continue to pay exorbitant prices. In short, Arrowhead is a place to be.

One move changes all of that. Short of Andrew Luck, Peyton Manning is the prize of the off-season. This story is even overshadowing the Super Bowl of all things. This is the big fish. If the Chiefs were to get him, they instantly become not only the favorites in the AFC West but guaranteed of several prime time games. The reality is that not only would they instantly sell a million of anything remotely team-related, but any and all ill feelings would dissipate immediately. A PR nightmare needs a salve that heals all wounds. Peyton is that salve.

That might sound dramatic, but imagine the frenzy if Manning were to sport a Chiefs uniform. Imagine the trade announcement. Imagine the analysis that would ensue. Imagine the press coverage of practices, workouts and the lead-up to his first official game action since 2011. Once you’re done imagining all of that, then tell me it’s not worth the move. Thought so.

that was a quick turn around on that story. GO AND GET HIM PIOLI!

We are a QB away from the SB.

Would love this to happen. But I for one am not getting my hopes up at all. I don't want the let down if he goes somewhere else. But I will keep my fingers crossed lol.

If we do get him, we are going to be top contenders with our skill position talent and our defense. If we franchise Bowe to give us more time to work something out long term with him and resign Carr, Draft a RT and a back up running back, maybe sign a couple back up lineman in FA and find a good NT we will be favorites. I am not going to get my hopes up either because allot needs to happen for all this too take place.

As great as this would be... it ain't gonna happen. Cassell will be at QB, Bowe will be hit w/ the franchise tag and Carr will be playing somewhere else. I would not be suprised to see Richardson still starting at RT. This teams management refuses to spend money to make this team any better. Although I think Romeo earned the HC job... he was still the cheapest option especially considering that we won't have to pay a DC because Romeo's wearing that hat also. And then they take the cheapest option at OC by hiring Daboll. And this noise about bring in competition for Cassell...yeah someone with the skill set of Tyler Palko. Clark Hunt either has no idea how to build a winning team or he simply does not care. I tend to believe the latter of the two. It's a shme what he has done to the image of the Chiefs that his father worked so tirelessly to build. Sorry boys but I think I may have to jump this ship.

WOW Negative Nancy

redross006 wrote:

As great as this would be... it ain't gonna happen. Cassell will be at QB, Bowe will be hit w/ the franchise tag and Carr will be playing somewhere else. I would not be suprised to see Richardson still starting at RT. This teams management refuses to spend money to make this team any better. Although I think Romeo earned the HC job... he was still the cheapest option especially considering that we won't have to pay a DC because Romeo's wearing that hat also. And then they take the cheapest option at OC by hiring Daboll. And this noise about bring in competition for Cassell...yeah someone with the skill set of Tyler Palko. Clark Hunt either has no idea how to build a winning team or he simply does not care. I tend to believe the latter of the two. It's a shme what he has done to the image of the Chiefs that his father worked so tirelessly to build. Sorry boys but I think I may have to jump this ship.

This. Exactly this. Clark Hunt is the cheapest man in the NFL. There's a reason this team has damn near 30 mil in cap space. Clark has ZERO interest in winning a super bowl. This guy is all about the $$$. He brought in one of the most overhyped pieces of shit in management with Pioli. There is no such thing as the "Patriot way"..the Patriot way is Tom fucking Brady. Pioli is so stuck on the idea that he can make Cassel into the next Brady that its going to drive this franchise even farther into the fucking ground than we already are. Guys like Bowe and Carr have to be thankful that their contracts are up. I honestly dont see us resigning both, but I will be extremely ecstatic if we manage to do so. Out of the 3 OC candidates we had, Daboll was my least favorite. You cant tell me Zorn or Saunders arent better than Daboll. This team is stacked with talent everywhere I look, but without solid coaching and solid QB this team is going nowhere.

Well i would never jump ship. But something need to happen to inspire this team and fans again. That is reality and Clark and Pioli needto open there eyes

Carr isn't going to leave. He wants to keep playing for Crennel. Its stupid for teams to spend a bunch of money on old washed up players, I'm glad the Chiefs have been building the team up the way they have. We haven't been good enough to break the bank on someone we are "one player away" for.

RustShack wrote:

Carr isn't going to leave. He wants to keep playing for Crennel. Its stupid for teams to spend a bunch of money on old washed up players, I'm glad the Chiefs have been building the team up the way they have. We haven't been good enough to break the bank on someone we are "one player away" for.

Someone is gonna overpay for Carr. He will not be here. The Chiefs are saving money on players and coaches. This team is becoming the NFL's biggest joke. Everyone knows that as long as Cassell is QB the Chiefs are going nowhere, but yet Cassell wiil still be the starter next year because whoever they bring in as "competition" forCassell will be a mediocre backup to make Cassell look better.

Lol yeah. Just like we are going to let Hali, Charles, and DJ walk too. Oh wait, we didn't. Always going after the cheapest coaches huh? I'm sure hiring Weis and Crennel as our coordinators was cheap. We have guys like Emmit Thomas and Carthon who have been around and are former coordinators as position coaches, I'm sure they are real cheap too.

Now if we wanted to go cheap we would have promoted someone as a first time OC, not someone who's still young, upcoming, and already has experience at two different OC stints.

Touchdown Bowe wrote:

You cant tell me Zorn or Saunders arent better than Daboll. This team is stacked with talent everywhere I look, but without solid coaching and solid QB this team is going nowhere.

So we have Saunders, who is only good when he has top notch talent, a QB who knows the offense like the back of his hand, and a HC who has him run their system... or we have Zorn who has never been an OC before and gave up playcalling the one year he tried doing it because he sucked at it.

Sounds like we really missed the boat.

Yeah I'm sure teams were beating down Dabolls door. There were plenty of other OC's that the chiefs made no attepmts to get....or they just didn't want anything to do with Pioli and his boy Matt Cassell. What happened to the premier offensive coordinator that the Cheifs were supposed to be bringing in.... is Daboll it? Surely his resume shows that right?

RustShack wrote:

Lol yeah. Just like we are going to let Hali, Charles, and DJ walk too. Oh wait, we didn't.

No more like how we let Gaither go and watched him excell in San Diego or how we released a " washed up " Brian Waters to see him have one of the best years of his career. Those two get released yet Barry Richardson is still a starter on this team. Bowe will get the franchise tag and be here for one more year and Carr will be paid more $$$ somewhere else. I don't like it... thats just how I think it's gonna go down. I hope I'm wrong. Personally I would rather us keep Carr over Bowe. WR's are alot easier to come by than good corners and we have not drafted any REAL good corners since Flowers and Carr. Arenas is a good Nickelback but thats about it.

LOL! Gaither and Waters are completely different situations. Keep reaching though. And actually McDaniels was supposed to be that OC, but Penn St. kinda screwed us over by hiring the Patriots OC. Continuity is the best thing for this young Chiefs team, and Daboll runs the same scheme. Give the dude a chance, hes never had good players to work with. Not many coaches can turn the Browns and Dolphins around in one year.

Keep Drinking the Pioli kool-aid Rust.

Wasn't the sexy hire, but really there wasn't much to choose from. Not sure what this has to do with Pioli though, it's Crennels coaching staff. Or is it just the fact they are all from the Parcels tree?

I agree its Romeo's staff but I just get the feeling that Pioli is pulling all the strings for the Chiefs right now. And judging by recent stories in the press I could be right.. If this is Romeo's hire than maybe Orton starts for us next year too cause I think he would take Orton over Cassell and this 3 yr. nightmare can come to an end.

redross006 wrote:

I agree its Romeo's staff but I just get the feeling that Pioli is pulling all the strings for the Chiefs right now. And judging by recent stories in the press I could be right.. If this is Romeo's hire than maybe Orton starts for us next year too cause I think he would take Orton over Cassell and this 3 yr. nightmare can come to an end.

I wont be surprised if Daboll wants Matt Moore. I dont know if hes a FA but I wouldn't be suprised to see the Chiefs trade for Moore.

Could be right about Matt Moore, but don't think he is a FA. Would have to trade for him if he isn't released. I wasn't excited about the Daboll hiring either but Continuity is what we need right now. And he is probably the best fit. Hell he did wonders with Reggie Bush so he should have a field day with Charles.

I wonder if Pioli made Crennel hire Daboll in Cleveland too even though he was still in NE.

We will just have to give the guy a chance and see what he has.

NEWSFLASH!!!!! This is not New England and for the "Patriot Way" to work you need the 2 most important ingredients... Bill Belichick and Tom Brady. Nuff said.

The Chiefs have had all off season to interview candidates. The best candidates they bring in are Saunders, Daboll, and Zorn. Seriously? Maybe Daboll does put out a good offense. Maybe he doesnt. I'm just sick of all this Bill Parcells/Bill Belichick bullshit. I can understand bringing in people you know but God damn think outside the box a little bit. Almost every move this team has made in the last 3 years has been Parcells/Belichick related. One of my biggest reasons for hating this move is just the fact that he knows Matt Cassel. For Crennel to come out and say they will be having a QB competition..and then bring in this guy who is obviously gonna favor Cassel over whoever..it almost makes me sick. I really hope Crennel has the balls to resign Orton and Daboll has the balls to start him..because thats our best chance at making a playoff run next season.