We’re still waiting for official word on Peyton Manning’s future with the Colts, but some Titans fans are already trying to lobby the former Tennessee Volunteer to come back to the state.
There’s a website, comehomepeyton.com, devoted to the cause that’s asking for donations to erect billboards and run radio ads in Indianapolis encouraging Manning to come back to the Volunteer State if he’s done with the Colts. The site also features some song parodies, including a reworking of Eminem’s “Lose Yourself” that works a lot better than it probably should.
Some of the impetus for the campaign seems to be a column by Tennessee writer and radio host Clay Travis making the case for why the Titans need Manning. Travis argues that the Titans offense is good enough to go to the Super Bowl with an elite quarterback and that Manning’s presence wouldn’t retard Jake Locker’s development any more than Matt Hasselbeck’s. Hasselbeck signed a three-year, $20 million contract before last season. With a healthy amount of cap space, the Titans could pull off dropping Hasselbeck and adding Manning if they so desired.
The issue, of course, is whether Manning is healthy enough to make any of these efforts worthwhile. That’s the big X factor in the growing cottage industry of Peyton speculation and all the song parodies in the world aren’t going to make a difference until there’s an answer to that question.