From the moment Super Bowl 50 concluded, the sports world has examined and re-examined every possible scenario involving the fate of Peyton Manning’s NFL career. Will he stay? Will he go? What will happen? The answer is simple, says Vic Lombardi of Altitude Sports.
On Thursday, Lombardi joined Renaud Notaro and Big Dee White on Mile High Sports AM 1340 to discuss the inevitable answer to the questions that have plagued the sports world since Feb. 7.
“We’ve known the answer, and I think when D-day is upon us we play tricks with our minds and we keep trying to change the circumstances and all of a sudden, ‘What if this happens? What if that happens?’” Lombardi said. “None of that is going to happen. The Broncos are going to proceed without Peyton Manning, they’re going to resign Brock Osweiler and one week from now we will talk about the future of the Denver Broncos without PFM.”
Though it may be entertaining to continually shift the Rubik’s Cube of salary caps and free agency scenarios, there’s only one way the puzzle is solved.
“We keep looking at this through a prism, from so many angles, trying to fit the pieces, there are no pieces to fit,” Lombardi said. “He’s not going to play here anymore, that’s it!”
The simplest scenario is the most likely scenario and Manning’s departure from the Mile High City seems to be a forgone conclusion. On the other hand, signing Osweiler could prove to be the more complicated puzzle to solve.
During Osweiler’s stint as the starter last season he managed to prove his mettle. According to ProFootballFocus.com, Osweiler ranked 20th out of 36 starters in the NFL last season. That number could be misleading though, as is evidenced by OverTheCap.com, a number of other middle-of-the-pack quarterbacks managed to make big money moving forward.
“I snicker when people say, ‘whoa that’s an outrageous price!’ There is no outrageous price in the NFL when it comes to the quarterback position,” Lombardi said. “If a team believes you are worth $18 million a year, like they did with Sam Bradford in Philly, then that’s what you’re worth.”
The one real wildcard in the Denver quarterback equation is the overheated market.
“You are what you’re worth and you’re worth what you are, supply and demand and all that business and right now the demand for consistent quarterbacks has never been higher,” Lombardi said.
Unless there’s some sort of collapse in logical thinking by Osweiler’s agent or the Broncos organization, a deal should be made and the suspense will be over no later than 2 p.m. on Mar. 9.
Listen to the full discussion between Lombardi, Notaro and White in the podcast below…
Catch Notaro and Big Dee Monday through Thursday from 6p-8p on Mile High Sports AM 1340 or stream live any time for the best coverage of Colorado sports from Denver’s biggest sports talk lineup.
