ESPN on Peyton Manning: 'The Dolphins' Chances are Dwindling'

ESPN on Peyton Manning: "The Dolphins' Chances are Dwindling"

By Kyle Munzenrieder Fri., Mar. 9 2012 at 12:37 PM

Could Miami be too big of a market for Peyton Manning? ESPN's NFL Insider Adam Schefter, citing several "sources," says that the media frenzy that greeted Manning as he arrived in South Florida may have scared him off. Schefter suggests that like Jim Harbaugh and Jeff Fisher before him, Manning may be the next target Stephen Ross misses (a scenario we've already worried about).

Here's the reports from SportsCenter:

Something about this however doesn't quite gel with us. Manning has been a sports icon for over a decade. Is media attention really going to scare him away?

Yes, Manning did get chased by reporters and helicopters after arriving at Opa-locka Airport before being driven to his condo on South Beach, but his free agency is a big deal. He could have landed in Bumfuck, Idaho, and he still would have been hounded by reporters.

Sounds like someone, perhaps ESPN's sources, could be stretching things out a little bit for drama's sake.

Manning still is set to reportedly meet with the Dolphins soon. Let's just hope Ross and Jeff Ireland don't botch it.

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Tags:

Miami Dolphins, Peyton Manning

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Jim

The big picture here is exactly what Irsay faced as a business decision process. Where is the graph on BEP, between Manning's demands and what a franchise is willing to spend to improve. I agree a healthy Manning improves the Dolphins as it would probably any NFL franchise on paper. But as the 49ers proved last season Alex Smith can get a team to the NFC Championship if surrounded by the right team and coaching staff. The Dolphins bought into Parcells & Sparano 4 seasons ago. The team improved, but to be honest about it, the organization went 1-15 under Cam Cameron, they were that bad by their record, their play on the field was closer to a few plays away from being a 5-7 win team, and no worse than where Wannstedt, Saban and most recently where Sparano had them. That 11-5 season was an overachievement for the Dolphins, which in reality 5-7 wins is a perennial underachievement. Before the Cardinals lost to the Steelers in that SB, they had the same situation there, season after season, pretty much the same players playing down to 9-7 and winning a division that recently has underachieved. Dolphins are no different than any other franchise in that regard.