The Denver Broncos and Peyton Manning have agreed this morning to a five-year, $96 million contract. The Broncos have scheduled a press conference for 3:00pm Eastern Time to introduce Manning to the media.
Reports indicate that Manning flew into Denver last night.
Further contract details are not known at this time, but Mile High Report's John Bena guesses it should be in the neighborhood of $35-$40 million range in terms of guaranteed money.
This afternoon's press conference will be live-streamed on DenverBroncos.com.
With Peyton now officially a Bronco, it's time for us Colts fans, and for us Stampede Blue readers and writers, to move on. As I said several weeks ago, part of me hopes Peyton wins another Super Bowl to cement his legacy.
However, most of me wants the Colts to win. As I have been saying on Twitter these past few weeks, it's Colts > Manning, and if you think otherwise, than sorry... you aren't a Colts fan. You're likely a Manning fan.
There's nothing "wrong" with that, it's just that you aren't rooting for the same team I am. You rooted for a player, or you think that player defines the Colts, and that player isn't on our team anymore. In fact, he's now the enemy. If, by some miracle, the Colts happen to face the Broncos next year in the playoffs (they don't play in the regular season, thank god), I'll be cheering for Robert Mathis and Dwight Freeney to knock Peyton into next week.
Will you?
Please note, if you hesitate to answer that question with a "yes," you probably aren't a Colts fan. You're a Manning fan.
Manning to Denver now finally allows us to close a chapter while, at the same time, write a new one. Our franchise is going to get the best QB prospect since Manning himself, or the the guy who just lassoed Manning to Denver, John Elway. We have a lot to be excited about.
A great QB prospect. New coach. New philosophy. New management. New Era.
And, again, if these things do not excite you, if your hope was that the Colts re-sign Manning regardless of the cap consequences, then you probably aren't a Colts fan, and you should start getting comfortable wearing orange every Sunday.
This concludes Stampede Blue's coverage of Peyton Manning's free agency derby. We're Manning-free here. He's now a former player, just as Edgerrin James once was. We wish him well, but we hope our team kicks the crap out of him if our guys ever face him.
P.S.- Go Colts