Warner: Peyton Manning with Cardinals ‘could be special’

Didn’t we just endure a full off-season and then another
16 games of a “quarterback controversy” here in Arizona?

But rumors never stop in sports, especially when former
NFL executives spark them on national television.

Charley Casserly, a former front office guru with the
Washington Redskins and Houston Texans, and now an analyst
with CBS Sports, dropped the “Peyton Manning to Cardinals”
bomb during a Sunday telecast.

With the fuse lit, it’s time to project.

Former Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner joined Burns and
Gambo on Arizona Sports 620 Monday, and did just that.

“Nothing against Kevin Kolb or John Skelton and all those
guys, but if you get a chance to get Peyton Manning, and
you can pull that off, you get Peyton Manning because he’s
a once-in-a-lifetime type guy,” Warner said.

“He’s a special player, and if you add him to Larry
Fitzgerald and the defense that they have here and maybe a
couple other pieces around him, and it could be special.”

Manning, of course, didn’t take a snap this season after
signing a 5-year, $90 million contract and undergoing two
neck surgeries. The Colts may be interested in cutting
the 4-time MVP because they own the top pick in this
year’s NFL Draft, and Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck is
considered the most intriguing QB prospect since Manning
himself entered the league in 1998.

While intrigued, Warner was careful not to get too caught
up in Casserly’s
comments.

“It sounds like it’s all speculation right now, so I don’t
think you jump too far down that road or on that bandwagon
right now,” he said.

He’s also not sure that the Colts will be so anxious to
cut Manning either.

“I just have a hard time believing that he won’t be in
Indianapolis regardless of who their pick is or who they
can get,” Warner said. “I don’t think anybody wants to be
the guy that lets Peyton Manning go if he can play
football the way he’s always played football.”

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