The Denver Broncos win the Peyton Manning Derby as the Chiefs division rival just got a huge upgrade at the quarterback position. For Manning, choosing Denver makes complete sense for the quarterback. He’s just about to turn 36 and Manning is not at the stage of his career where he wants to be a part of a rebuilding franchise. Manning wants another shot at getting to the playoffs and winning a Super Bowl, and Denver provides that best chance of the all the teams that were pursuing him.
By going to Denver, Manning stays in the AFC. If he’s more familiar with AFC opponents and that helps give him an edge, then that eliminates Arizona and San Francisco. Miami puts him in the same division with Tom Brady, and New England isn’t showing any signs of slowing down. They went 13-3 and won their division by five games as Brady led the Patriots to eight straight wins at the end of the season. Tennessee had a nice feel good story attached to it. He played his college ball in the state, his wife is from Memphis, but divsion winner Houston is getting better and it would mean two games each season against his former team and that’s a media circus he wants to avoid.
As far as Denver. They’re in the worst division in football. The Broncos won the division with a gimmic quarterback and an 8-8 record that lost their last three at the end of the season. Manning against the Chiefs, Raiders and Chargers is good enough for at least a 5-1 record division, which puts them more than on their way to winning the division. Denver has a solid defense, good running back that if healthy will provide a great compliment to Manning and a good corp of receivers.
It was no-brainer, easy division with a good defense and a team that doesn’t create a lot of media buzz.