Peyton Manning Derby: How Family Pride Will Dictate QB's Destination

By all accounts, the Manning family is a tight-knit clan, but tight enough to affect Peyton Manning's free agency?

Certainly.

That is, if you put your faith in the (well-informed) opinion of Marshall Faulk. The Hall-of-Fame running back told Nate Davis of USA Today that Peyton's preference to avoid stepping on little brother Eli's toes will limit his list of suitors to AFC teams:

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"If you're in the NFC, you're out. The Mannings (won't) play a regular-season game.

"They're not gonna stop each other from going to the Super Bowl. Meeting in the Super Bowl? How great would that be for the family?"

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That would eliminate the likes of the Seattle Seahawks, the Arizona Cardinals, the San Francisco 49ers, the Dallas Cowboys and the Washington Redskins from the running and push the New York Jets, the Miami Dolphins, the Tennessee Titans, the Houston Texans, the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Kansas City Chiefs to the fore.

Why trust Faulk, you ask? He may well be the most knowledgeable non-Manning with regard to football affairs within the family. Faulk was a teammate of Peyton's with the Colts during the quarterback's rookie season in 1998 and has remained in close contact with him ever since. What's more, Faulk is well acquainted with Archie Manning, Peyton's father, on account of their shared roots in New Orleans.

To be sure, the Cardinals and the Niners would appear to be the best bets for a quick Super Bowl return for Manning. Arizona finished 8-8 last season despite an ongoing quagmire under center that saw Kevin Kolb and John Skelton sharing snaps. And, as Kurt Warner's tenure in the Valley of the Sun made clear, the Cards are well equipped to contend with a veteran quarterback.

Not to mention the allure of playing with a wide receiver as supremely skilled as Larry Fitzgerald.

The 49ers don't have quite the pass-catching stockpile to offer, unless Michael Crabtree emerges as a legitimate No. 1 receiver alongside Vernon Davis. But they do boast a top-tier running back in Frank Gore and a suffocating defense that nearly carried them to Indianapolis in February.

The Cowboys could make a push for the postseason with Manning under center, though they'd be hard-pressed to convince him to play two to three times against Eli in the same season, especially with a trip to the Super Bowl potentially hanging in the balance.

As such, expect Manning to wind up with a second-tier team in the AFC, one that would afford him the opportunity to suffer at the hands of the New England Patriots, the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Baltimore Ravens rather than strong-arm his own brother.

Because, for the Mannings, family comes first and blood is just too thick to mess with.

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