Will Payton Manning Play another year in Denver? Sam Bradford a possible fit for Broncos?

The Denver Broncos will need a quarterback for the 2016 season if Payton Manning hangs them up.  Your guess is as good as mine but if I had to put some green of it, the great on will take his NFL championship and move into the media and pitchman occupation fulltime.  Payton can still walk and run, and for him to keep the quarterback career going would not be in his best interest.  So bye Payton the football player and hi to the commentator box and a nice hello again pitching our favorite products on TV. Mr. Shaquille O’Neal, you might have some full-time competition.

Will the two-time Super Bowl winner Payton Manning come back for 2016?

Tuesday, Denver general manager John Elway didn’t give an answer if Manning would come back or if he wanted Manning back for a defending championship season. When asked if he wanted to see Manning back in Denver, here’s how he answered (via Pro Football Talk):

“You know, I think that it’s important for him — the key thing is for him to want to come back. . . . It’s not really what we want to do. I think the important thing is is it’s going to be his decisions, and so where we get a chance to sit down and talk to him, and that why it’s up to Peyton to see that process. Where he is, where he is in his career, what he thinks he can do, how he can play, what he wants to do from here on out. And so in talking about retirement, retirement’s always hard. I mean you can butt up to that line and crossing that line, taking that final step, saying I am moving on. That is a very — even if the first 99 percent are easy to get there, that last one percent is as hard as that first 99 percent. So that’s why he’s gonna have the time he needs and it’s basically gonna be up to him.”

Now to the matter of quarterback at Denver, you might look no further than ex-Sooner, ex-Ram, and ex-Eagle Sam Bradford.  With Payton retired, back-up Brock Osweiler would seem to be the replacement but his chance to make a lot more than Denver would shell out for his services in 2016 is probably a deal breaker for the Broncos.  Denver has to keep the significant team members that played the most important roles in the week-to-week grind and that will require dollars to pay these new champions.  Von Miller’s new contract alone will be hefty.  With Bradford, a veteran quarterback that has pinched his pennies from his huge initial contract, money might come second to winning, With Bradford, finally getting on a club that he would have a better than not chance to win an NFL title, this might be the time to put up and actually show what he has with a really good team.  That means coming to Denver, if given the opportunity. And Elway can continue to build the team for the future without breaking the bank of the Rocky Mountain champions.

Think not and believe that John Elway will go with Osweiler? My money says that Elway could go either way, but as always, the Denver Broncos mastermind always think about the present and not three, five, seven years down the road. Yes, the future, but with this outfit in Denver, the future is to win with these guys, now, again in 2016.  Elway sees that his team is complete with the players he can put around a veteran quarterback and to give away some of his talent that are necessary for another run is not a good option. And for sure not the best option.  Even without input from Denver owner Pat Bowlen, a proud graduate from the University of Oklahoma, and currently suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, the powers in the Bronco organization, including Elway and Bowlen’s wife Annabel,  Bradford for the run in 2016 in the Mile High city is a strong possibility.