What could have been?

I've been thinking a lot about different scenarios ever since I saw ESPN's 30 for 30 "Elway to Marino"  

March 7th, 2012 The Indianapolis Colts released Peyton Manning 

How do you describe the opportunity to get one of the best products that is in a very limited supply? It is like finding a rare baseball card on Ebay and you submit your best offer hoping you have the best bid. On March 7th teams went into a panic of excitement as they had the chance to snag one of the best quarterbacks to ever play football. Almost every team began to perfect a pitch they would use to lure in the great Peyton Manning. As we know now, the Denver Broncos won the contest. How did they pull off such a great free agent signing? A large part of their victory is because of their general manager and V.P. of football operations, John Elway. 

Flashback to the 1983 NFL Draft. John Elway selected #1 overall to the Baltimore Colts. Elway was later traded to Denver because he refused to play for the Colts. What would have happened had he stayed in Baltimore? Now I'm looking past a lot of possibilities because the Broncos would later obtain a QB since they wouldn't have Elway. Lets say that everything in the NFL stayed the same since 1983 except the fact Elway is on the Baltimore Colts. 

Peyton Manning no longer considers the Denver Broncos a destination to play football because Elway isn't their to persuade Manning that he can help him win a Super Bowl like he did in his late years. Instead Peyton Manning arrives in Arizona where they helped Kurt Warner in his late years, they have a young, talented defense, Larry Fitzgerald, and beautiful weather. He does eventually hoist the Lombardi trophy before he retires, and he does so by beating the Seattle Seahawks in the NFC championship. As a result, Seattle is still searching for their first ring. 

Where does that leave Denver? Remember Tim Tebow? How could you forget such a media friendly athlete. Lets not forgot how successful Tebow was in Denver? The guy is millions of miles off the talent Peyton Manning has but the Tebow won and that is all that matters. The Broncos have had a great team the last 4 years and Tebow was doing well in his short time there. He carried them to an overtime win against the Pittsburg Steelers in the AFC Wildcard round. Had Peyton Manning avoided Denver, Tim Tebow would still be the starting QB in Denver. I'm not going to go as far as to say they would be Super Bowl contenders but they would be in the playoff hunt. 

I've always like Tim Tebow. I believe the guy had his job stolen. He was traded to the Jets where the team and media ruined him and his career. He later signed with the Patriots because Bill Belichick does things that nobody will ever understand. 

Summary of the story:

Had John Elway stayed in Baltimore, Peyton Manning would not be in Denver and Tim Tebow would be. Both QBs would have a job and doing well at it.  

Very cool video that offers a similar view N"If"L

Hopefully this article wasn't too far out there to understand for people but it is just fun to think about "What could have been?".