http://cdn.cloudfiles.mosso.com/c191...c/hotsheet.png Now that Peyton Manning has decided that he wants to become a Denver Bronco we still have a few teams without a quarterback and there are not many left.
Someone is going to be left out.
Cleveland and Miami went into the free agency period looking to improve their quarterback situation. Then San Francisco tried to silently get involved in the Manning deal last week and we can understand why. With their quarterback (Alex Smith) still a free agent I’m sure they didn’t want to put him in a situation where he would question going back to San Francisco. But with the 49ers pushing hard to sign Manning that is exactly what is going to happen.
From his agent’s viewpoint it’s a great situation. Miami and San Francisco will be bidding for the services of Smith and that drives up the ante. Neither team wants to be without a veteran so Smith, who has been a journeyman at best until last season, will hit the lottery. The team that loses out will be in dire straits. It will leave Cleveland and either San Francisco or Miami without a quarterback. The best they can hope for in the draft is Ryan Tannehill. Tannehill has talent and some upside but in my opinion isn’t close to being a top 10 talent, which is where he would be drafted by either of those teams. Don’t forget, Tannehill started out his career at Texas A&M as a wide receiver because the coaching staff didn’t feel he was good enough to play quarterback. When is the last time you saw a player switch positions to quarterback while in college and get drafted in the top 10? How about never!
Could all of these franchises have outsmarted themselves going into free agency and not have a good backup plan? Two viable quarterbacks that were signed to be backups last week are better than what Tannehill has to offer and they would be Kyle Orton and Jason Campbell. Orton signed with the Cowboys and Campbell with the Bears. Very shortly, Alex Smith will decide on what club to sign with while the other two clubs will be scrambling. Some people will say they can trade for Tim Tebow, but in reality that is not an option. Tim Tebow cannot be a conventional quarterback in the NFL. This past season he was the only starting quarterback not to complete 50 percent of his passes and he wasn’t close to the 50 percent mark. It will be interesting to see how everything works out. The clubs that didn’t have sound plans could be on the outside looking in.
Rumor has it that Alex Smith is going to re-sign with the 49ers despite being a bit pissed off by the organization's flirtation with Manning. That leaves Miami and Cleveland w/o a real QB. We already know Miami was desperate in the market for Flynn and Manning and whiffed twice. Holmgren in Cleveland was also frank in public about being pissed at missing out on RG3 to the Skins (before having to make nice-nice about Colt McCoy). The only option for these 2 teams is to stick with the shit they have or WAY REACH for Tannehill...and only one of them can even do that.
Crazy, crazy thought but...how about dangling Campbell out there and raping one these two in trade for picks?
