Peyton Manning Restructures His Contract With the Denver Broncos
Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos have agreed to a reduced contract for the 2015 season. That means Peyton will play in his 18th season as QB for the Broncos. The deal reduces Peyton's base salary by $4 million from $19 million to $15 million. He has a chance to earn that money back in incentives, and if the Broncos win the Super Bowl he will have earned his entire original contract. The Broncos need a little salary cap relief to help the team get better.
The two sides of this were all saying the right things,
"I've been working real hard, and I'm excited to be back with the Denver Broncos," Manning told the Denver Post. "Can't wait for April 13 to get here when the team can finally come together. I'm excited to get to work and get to know the new coaches and looking forward to trying to make 2015 a special year.
Broncos General Manager John Elway also said, "We're excited; we're excited it's over. Glad that we can move on, glad that Peyton's going to be part of this team and hopefully win a championship next year."
Pro Football Talk thinks that Peyton wanted to get a deal done for more selfish reasons. More than winning another Super Bowl or making a ton of money Peyton is within striking distance of the NFL all time passing record.
"Manning currently has 69,691 passing yards, putting him within striking distance of Brett Favre's record of 71,838 yards. Assuming Manning stays healthy, he should break Favre's record some time in the middle of next season," they stated.
However, this seems like a good move for both team and player. The player gets to come back and still make a ton of money and a team in win now mode gets some salary cap relief to help improve the roster around their star.