Within a matter of minutes, the Peyton Manning landscape jut got a lot clearer. Fox Sports Jay Glazer just announced a reported deal by the Washington Redskins to move up four spots in the 2012 NFL Draft to take Robert Griffin III. Rich Cimini then announces via Twitter that the New York Jets have agreed to an extension for current starting quarterback Mark Sanchez. Both teams have been mentioned among the frontrunners for Manning’s services.
Cimini says that no terms of the deal were disclosed, but this will silence Sanchez’s critics who were hoping the team would go a different direction this offseason. Some even wondered if the team would release Sanchez at some point if they signed Manning. For a quarterback who took his team to the AFC Championship game twice, that’s a serious lack of credibility. But the team apparently doesn’t feel the same as the media, since they are the ones signing checks for Sanchez.
There are still plenty of teams in the hunt, but it’s clear that both the Redskins and Jets felt like they had no chance with Manning. Two down, several more to go.