The Denver Broncos were reportedly interested in trading quarterback Peyton Manning to the Houston Texans at one point this offseason, and then apparently they weren’t.
And then, there was this:
Here's one for the record - The speculation is false, and your report is inaccurate. https://t.co/Epge4WkOrX
— Patrick Smyth (@psmyth12) June 24, 2015
And this:
Sorry this took so long, but I wanted to talk with 3 Texans sources I trust about Manning report. All tell me it's not true.
— John McClain (@McClain_on_NFL) June 24, 2015
And, this:
Of course, anyone who’s been alive has denied a lie before, so the denials from the Broncos and John Elway don’t necessarily mean Allbright’s sources are lying. After all, he’s not even the first to report a Broncos-Texans rumored trade. It was first brought up three weeks ago on a podcast with Daniel Jeremiah. We even talked about it on our Twitter page…
What in the world is going on here? For whatever it’s worth to all of you reading, Allbright is a good dude so I don’t think he’s trying to bump his reputation by becoming Incarcerated Bob or something (sorry, Bob). I think he’s gotten this information — from multiple different sources — and is passing it along, as would any of us in his position.
The question is, is it true? It certainly could be. The new contract negotiated by Manning involved a no-trade clause, because Manning’s not finishing his NFL career on a team he doesn’t hand pick. If not in Denver, Manning will make the arrangements. The Broncos might have, in a moment, been willing to deal Manning and see what they’ve got from Brock Osweiler because this is Osweiler’s final year of his rookie contract.
With all of that said, trading Manning would have been a very odd move from John Elway. How would the Broncos’ locker room have responded to that? How would all the veteran players have responded to that? Why would Elway care to let Manning come back in the first place and not let him loose at the first sign of hesitancy he showed this offseason?
There are so many variables to this, including the fact that you have two groups of people, one saying it did happen and the other that it didn’t.
You are free to think what you want. The fact is, Manning is a member of the Denver Broncos, and nothing’s going to change that at this point.