Dutch - I think you are leaving a lot of context out of making it seem so obvious to sign Manning. Dude was not even cleared to practice. He was rehabbing all the way up to and into the 2012 season. There was more than a little risk.
I never said it was sooooo obvious that we should sign him. I said 1) that it absolutely was feasible to give him a competitive offer, and 2) that if you can get a HOF/GOAT QB, that he's more important than a great RB.
That is assuming he passed a medical evaluation and isn't trying to pull an Ed Reed. Of course there was considerable risk involved, if there wasn't any, Peyton would have been traded instead of cut. Peyton even gave the Broncos several outs for injury/performance in year 1 and year 3. There was zero guaranteed money in his deal, but instead his salaries become guaranteed if he's on the active roster to begin the seasons. If he was willing to make those kinds of concessions for the Texans, then I think the risk is quite limited.
For the Texans though, the biggest risk is that you would be giving away Schaub in the process, who at the time wasn't nearly as bad as he is now. Taking away a moderately healthy QB with a long injury history and replacing him with a possibly unhealthy QB could be a huge disaster too. However, I think in 2012 you could have traded Schaub and his 1 year, 10m dollar deal for at least a 4th and picked up a decent QB in the draft to backup Manning.
In any case, the only unacceptable reasons I can see for not getting Peyton are, "We promised Foster a lot of money" and Kubiak not wanting to work with him. If it truly was injury concern, then sure, you don't sign the guy and give away capable starters. However, it sounds to me like he wasn't really evaluated by our team.
