Peyton Manning Rumors: Arizona Cardinals Provide Easiest Path to Super Bowl

Peyton Manning, Peyton Manning and Peyton Manning: Which team will he choose, and which one holds the clearest path to the Super Bowl? By the time this piece of literary genius is published, Manning may be linked with another six or seven football teams.

He has visited with the Denver Broncos and Arizona Cardinals and has meetings on tap with the Miami Dolphins and Tennessee Titans. The Houston Texans are reportedly showing interest. As teams ready themselves for free agency, Manning may have to visit with all 32 teams, sans the Colts, just to make sure he has covered all bases.

But realistically, he only has a few, true options. If Peyton wants another Super Bowl, and I’m sure he does, his fortunes may reside in the desert and not the mile-high mountains of Denver.

The Cardinals have heavy interest in Manning, and according to some reports, the interest is mutual. Arizona plays in the still-weak NFC West, and without a strong quarterback in 2011, Arizona still managed to win eight games.

Add Manning to a few of those games, like the one-point loss to the Redskins in Week 2 or the three-point loss to the Ravens in Week 8. Both are games where Manning would have made a huge difference.

That would have sent the Cardinals to 10-6 and a sure wild-card playoff entrance. The Cardinals offense was less than stellar last season, as they finished 19th in total offense for the season. But they have Larry Fitzgerald, who had over 1,400 receiving yards despite shaky play from the quarterback position.

Arizona also has a strong running back in Beanie Wells as he rushed for 1,047 yards and 10 touchdowns. Arizona has pieces to win right away—remember their Super Bowl run of 2008? It is often tough to duplicate success, especially from a few years ago, but Arizona has had recent success with a veteran quarterback.

My only concern with Manning joining the Cardinals is the quarterback talent the team will face in the NFC. It has been reported that Manning would prefer the AFC as to not block a Super Bowl run by his brother Eli, but one must go where the gold lies.

Besides Manning, the NFC has Drew Brees, Aaron Rodgers, Tony Romo, Matthew Stafford and Cam Newton. All are signal-callers for contenders or up-and-comers, which makes the road to the Super Bowl that much harder for Manning.

But I do not take him for one to back down from a challenge, and if he believes that the Cardinals would serve his needs the best, I believe that is where he’ll go.

Besides the Texans, who could easily usurp the Cardinals as the super front-runner for Manning, I believe he should take his talents to Arizona. If the Niners have another year with quarterback Alex Smith, that will work against them, and not for them.