http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/02/18/shanahan-i-wanted-peyton-settled-for-rg3-trade/
Trading up for Robert Griffin IIIwas not Mike Shanahan’s first choice when considering who his quarterback would be in Washington in 2012.
Shanahan said on ESPN 980 that what he really wanted was to sign Peyton Manning after he was released by the Colts. Shanahan thinks he and Manning were on the same page and that a deal could have been done, except for one problem: Peyton didn’t want to be in the same division as his brother, Giants quarterback Eli Manning.
“We were talking to Peyton at that time. That was a strong consideration,” Shanahan said. “But at the end of the day I felt that with Eli being with the Giants he wasn’t coming in our direction.”
That’s when Washington started looking to trade up and draft Griffin. But that trade, Shanahan said, was a huge risk.
“I did not feel good about giving up two No. 1s and a No. 2, and they all knew I felt that way,” Shanahan said. “I said, ‘Hey, yeah, I would take the chance. But I want you to know that he’s really going to have to commit to what we’re doing.'”
In fact, Shanahan said he wouldn’t have given up all those draft picks if he’d known that the NFL was about to dock Washington $36 million in cap space as a penalty for the way the team structured contracts during the uncapped season in 2010.
“I don’t think you could have,” Shanahan said when asked if he would have traded away all those picks knowing about the impending salary cap penalty. “When you get penalized like we did, you can’t bring any players in.”
Trading up for Robert Griffin IIIwas not Mike Shanahan’s first choice when considering who his quarterback would be in Washington in 2012.
Shanahan said on ESPN 980 that what he really wanted was to sign Peyton Manning after he was released by the Colts. Shanahan thinks he and Manning were on the same page and that a deal could have been done, except for one problem: Peyton didn’t want to be in the same division as his brother, Giants quarterback Eli Manning.
“We were talking to Peyton at that time. That was a strong consideration,” Shanahan said. “But at the end of the day I felt that with Eli being with the Giants he wasn’t coming in our direction.”
That’s when Washington started looking to trade up and draft Griffin. But that trade, Shanahan said, was a huge risk.
“I did not feel good about giving up two No. 1s and a No. 2, and they all knew I felt that way,” Shanahan said. “I said, ‘Hey, yeah, I would take the chance. But I want you to know that he’s really going to have to commit to what we’re doing.'”
In fact, Shanahan said he wouldn’t have given up all those draft picks if he’d known that the NFL was about to dock Washington $36 million in cap space as a penalty for the way the team structured contracts during the uncapped season in 2010.
“I don’t think you could have,” Shanahan said when asked if he would have traded away all those picks knowing about the impending salary cap penalty. “When you get penalized like we did, you can’t bring any players in.”
