Peyton Manning Rumors: Teams Should Be Wary as Arm Strength Is Still 'Far Off'

According to Jason Cole of Yahoo! Sports, Peyton Manning's arm strength is still a long ways from being what it used to be, a report that should make any possible suitors wary of paying too much to land him for 2012.

Three NFL sources that have seen medical reports on quarterback Peyton Manning say his recovery has gone well so far, but the truth is that a full recovery is still a long ways away.

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So far, so good, said a source with one of the many teams that is interested in signing Manning. The question is still where is it going to stop, but the progress over the past month has been steady and that’s what you’re looking for.

Some of this stuff is in the eye of the beholder, another source said. I don’t think there’s anything there that would discourage you from going forward, but you’d have to consider the risk.

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Without knowing when his recovery might hit a brick wall, teams need to be mindful of what kind of commitment they are getting themselves into. 

Consider a team like the Miami Dolphins. If they land Manning, who steps in if he goes down? What happens if the experiment fails miserably and they find themselves back at the drawing board next year a this same time?

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Is this a situation where I would hand the guy [a lot of guaranteed money]? No, I would be hesitant because there’s still a ways to go … really, that stuff is outside my expertise, but it’s hard to know for sure that he’s absolutely going to be ready at a certain time. I think he’ll be OK, but I don’t know exactly when.

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Nobody really knows if and when Manning might be healthy enough to actually be the player he used to be. The only real evidence anyone has right now about his ability to throw is the grainy, unconvincing Youtube video of him throwing at Duke. 

All we know is that there are three teams that are going to go all-out to try and land Manning, despite the fact that there isn't any way of knowing how well he can play going forward.

Great risks can give you great results, but they can also be tragic.

We'll have to wait to find out which one ends up becoming reality for the team that ends up landing Manning.

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