We’re going to hear a lot of reports in coming weeks about teams that are interested in Peyton Manning, if healthy.
It would probably be shorter to create a list of teams not interested in a healthy Manning.
Any team with modest room for improvement at quarterback will investigate one of the league’s all-time greats. It’s not like Manning was exactly struggling when he last played.
The latest report about Manning comes from Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald. He has a team source that says the Dolphins would prioritize going after Manning ahead of Matt Flynn. (The Dolphins also prefer Tom Brady to Matt Cassel, and they like Mario Williams more than Rob Ninkovich.)
Pursing Manning will be tricky because of timing. Will Manning be able to show he’s healthy enough for a monster contract early in the offseason? If not, can teams wait around to see what happens with Manning’s recovery?
Salguero notes that the Dolphins have not even shown “informal interest” in Flynn behind the scenes despite coach Joe Philbin’s ties to Flynn. That’s good, because even informal interest would be tampering. Perhaps the Dolphins are just trying to cover their collective backside.
Aaron Rodgers told Jason Wilde of ESPN Milwaukee on Wednesday that it’s a “strong possibility” the Dolphins will pursue Flynn. That’s practically evidence of tampering right there.
We’d expect the Dolphins to show interest in Flynn eventually. Any team like the Dolphins that has interest in Manning can’t realistically expect to land him. They need alternatives.
There’s a real chance Manning will never play football again. If he does play again, there is going to be a lot of competition for his services.