QB Peyton Manning’s friend Steve Hutchinson lands in Tennessee, Titans hope for Peyton-NFL News
The Tennessee Titans confirmed on Thursday, March 15, 2012 to have signed offensive guard, Steve Hutchinson, off the free agency and the move is said to have been made to motivate free agent quarterback, Peyton Manning, to consider signing with the team.
Hutchinson is a close friend of Peyton Manning and Titans are hoping that the former could convince Manning to weigh Titans’ offer of a deal with them in the future.
He was released by the Minnesota Vikings a day earlier and was tracked down by the Tennessee Titans on reportedly a three-year deal. Other terms of the deal including the total payout are not known.
The management has itself not disclosed the exact tenure of the deal but some sections of media have quoted anonymous sources claiming its validity to be three years.
Following Hutchinson’s signing, coach, Mike Munchak, spoke of high hopes about performance of the player upon his joining later this year.
He said:
"I have evaluated hundreds of players coming out of college in my time as a coach and [Hutchinson] may have been the finest college guard I have watched.”
The coach added:
“I still see him [on tape] playing at a high level, even in his 11th NFL season. He brings experience and success to our line and into the locker room. He is just an all-around good football player and we are excited to have him."
The player was due to make $6.95 million in last year of his seven-year $49 million deal that he had signed with Vikings in 2006.
One of keys to the player’s record is his consistency of form throughout his career. He remained fit and in-form since starting his professional football career with the Seattle Seahawks in 2001.
Only last season was the lowest point of his career when he missed last two games of the season due to concussion. It was only third miss of his career.
Recently, some reports linked the player to frequent visits to Seattle to explore an opportunity of a comeback to Seahawks.
Seahawks’ owner, Paul Allen, was said to be interested in bringing back the player after his availability in the free agency market.
However, he has preferred moving to Titans, who are reported to have targeted him in their ploy of using him to convince his long-term friend, Peyton Manning, to join them.
Peyton had a lengthy meeting with Titans’ front office officials on Wednesday on the prospects of signing with them. However, nothing concrete came out of that meeting.
As of the latest, the quarterback has not received a solid offer from any team, and Titans hope he considers coming to Tennessee, where he had played the college league.
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