Peyton Manning Rumors: Unnamed Jets Player Really Wants Manning in New York

At least one member of the New York Jets wants free-agent-to-be quarterback Peyton Manning to come to the Big Apple.

Like, really wants him to come to the Big Apple.

According to the New York Daily News, a "prominent member" of the Jets openly proclaimed that he would love to see Manning in a Jets uniform.

“I want him in New York,” said the Jets player. “He needs to be a Jet.”

As reported by ESPN's Chris Mortensen, the Colts and Manning are going to announce their separation at a press conference in Indianapolis on Wednesday. The Colts have chosen not to pick up Manning's $28 million option bonus, which will make him an unrestricted free agent.

Not everyone in Jets-land feels the same way the "prominent member" of the team does. The Daily News says one member of the organization says there are "mixed feelings" about signing Manning. There is some uncertainty as to whether Manning would mesh with new offensive coordinator Tony Sparano, and the Jets run the risk of alienating Mark Sanchez if their pursuit of Manning fails.

The bigger question, of course, is whether Manning would even want to go to the Jets. Jason La Canfora of the NFL Network said in February that Manning's agent would be in no hurry to put Manning in the same place as his younger brother, Eli. 

So there's that, and an unnamed Jets source brought up an even better point.

“Why would Peyton Manning want to come to the circus?” said a Jets source, per the Daily News.

It's a legit point. Assuming he gets a clean bill of health, Manning is going to have half the NFL lining up to make him an offer. He'll choose the best situation for him, and the truth is that the Jets are as rocky as ever right now.

That's a concern, and so is the fact that the Jets' personnel on the field may not be good enough to lure Manning. The Jets had issues with their wide receivers in 2011, their running game was virtually nonexistent and their offensive line was, for the most part, horrible.

The biggest problem, however, is how the Jets would be able to make Manning a competitive offer. In late February, Omar Kelly of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel projected the Jets to have minimal cap space. Some of the other teams linked to Manning are projected to have far more cap space to work with.

We'll see what happens, but this could end up being a situation where signing with the Jets would mean taking a discounted contract. Then Manning would be taking less money to join a team with a lot of work still left to do.

Given how rocky things are with the Jets right now, it suffices to say Manning could do a lot better.