Peyton Manning to the Redskins Rumors: Smart Move or Horrible Mistake?

The NFL season is over, and Eli Manning will dominate the headlines for a week or so.

But, his brother Peyton will be an even bigger story in the coming weeks.

On the heels of several interesting news reports, the rumor mill will begin to heat up as to what Peyton Manning will decide to do with his career after missing all of 2011 to a devastating neck injury.

In the past week and a half, we have learned three things—Peyton Manning has been cleared to play football again, he's willing to restructure his contract to suit nearly any team and he has been connected to the Washington Redskins, who have all the reason in the world to sign the future Hall-of-Famer.

The main point of contention with signing Manning would be the money.  If the Colts decide to re-sign him, they would owe him about $28 million.

Everyone seems to assume that if the Colts were going to pay that, any team that courts Manning would have to shell out a similar amount.

But ESPN's Adam Schefter reported something that would suggest differently: 

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"Manning is completely open to creating a contract in which he would be paid little or no guaranteed money up front and he would have to earn every cent he makes strictly through performance, according to sources."

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This is a very interesting move by Manning, who appears to care more about earning his cash than simply inheriting it.

Imagine that.  

It's an admirable admission from one of the greatest QB's of our generation, and it all but ensures that the offseason rumor mill will be spinning wildly as every team will technically have a shot to sign him.

Why not the Washington Redskins?

Philadelphia sports talk personality Howard Eskin tweeted recently:

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“Told by 2 people close to Mannings that Peyton very likely to be a Redskin despite smokescreen being put of their by Skins to seek other QBs.”

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If money's not an issue, why not?

 If it's all about signing a free agent and there's no need to trade players or picks, is there really a reason not to bring Manning to D.C.?  

I was one of the skeptics.  

After the Donovan McNabb fiasco, I didn't want to have the same scenario play out with Manning and consequently have the Redskins organization end his career on an undeserved sour note.

But I look at it differently now.  

The Redskins have almost nothing to lose.  If they sign Manning to a reasonable contract—which looks possible due to Manning's recent demands—they can draft a QB and have him sit for one or two years while he learns under one of the greatest players in the history of football.  

At the same time, the Redskins could be challenging for playoff spots.

I just can't look at this and say it would be a bad deal for the Redskins.  If they needed to trade draft picks to get Manning, I would be against the idea in every way possible.  

But they don't have to.  

That essentially means they can shell out money for a guy that will cost them nothing but some green.  And we know the Redskins have plenty of that.

Some moves are risky, but this one is smart.  Manning would bring the possibility of winning games and would bring the football knowledge needed to tutor the next young QB the Redskins bring in.

The only realistic risk comes if Manning simply can't play anymore.  

This is kind of a wild card, since his injury is a lingering one and definitely career-threatening.  But for a guy like Manning, I think it's almost a non-issue.  

I feel as though he could adjust and perform admirably.  

Yes, he'll be 36.  

But he's also Peyton Manning, the guy with 399 career TD passes and over 54,000 passing yards.  He's the guy who, at 34, threw for 4,700 yards in a season. He's the guy who led the greatly flawed Indianapolis Colts to nine consecutive playoff appearances before the injury and watched the same team go 2-14 in the one season without him.

Could Peyton Manning end his career in the burgundy and gold?

I'm sure a lot of Redskins fans dearly hope so.