Why the 49ers Never Signed Peyton Manning

It's Peyton Manning Week here at Sports Illustrated.

During the next few days, we will remember the great career Manning had and the gigantic impact he made on the entire NFL, even the teams he didn't play for.

Particularly the 49ers, who tried to sign Manning in 2012.

Remember that?

The 49ers were coming off a 13-3 season, and both Alex Smith and Colin Kaepernick were under contract. But the 49ers still tried to sign Manning, who was 36 and had just missed a season after having career-threatening neck surgery.

Sounds like something the 49ers recently did, no? I'll come back to this.

First, here's the story of the time Jim Harbaugh and offensive coordinator Greg Roman went to Duke to scout Manning in 2012, courtesy of Peter King:

"Jim Harbaugh, who was the head coach, wanted to see (Manning) work out, but he didn't want anyone to know he was there. So Harbaugh and Greg Roman flew to Raleigh-Durham Airport in North Carolina, and went to Duke. They went and bought some clothes at the Duke University book store, and got Duke hooded sweatshirts. And they put the hoodies over their heads, and they stood down at the corner of the field and watched Manning work out, because obviously he was coming back from this serious neck injury."

I have three takeaways from this story:

1. Harbaugh is so cute.

I miss that guy. He's like a kid. I can picture the whole story, from Harbaugh coming up with the idea, to him telling Roman, to Roman probably rolling his eyes but agreeing anyway, to the entire Duke student body probably seeing Harbaugh on campus while he thought he was sneaky, to Harbaugh smiling on the field, satisfied, convinced no one would ever know he was there. Such a classic Harbaugh story.

2. King didn't explain why the 49ers never signed Manning.

I have covered the 49ers since 2011. And from what I understand, the world around the league was the 49ers could have signed Manning. He was interested, according to sources I spoke to. But Harbaugh wanted Manning to run Harbaugh's offense. And Manning wanted to run his own offense -- the Colts always let him game plan and call plays. He was his own offensive coordinator, and a great one. A better coordinator than Harbaugh. Sorry, Jim.

Harbaugh wasn't young at the time, but he was new to the NFL and wanted to show his scheme was cutting edge. Lots of inexperienced offensive coaches make this mistake. Harbaugh made a mistake.

3. The 49ers also could have signed Tom Brady this offseason.

Like Manning, Brady wanted to sign with the 49ers. And 49ers general manager John Lynch admitted they discussed signing Brady this offseason, even though they already have Jimmy Garoppolo.

Similar situations.

We don't know exactly why the 49ers chose not to sign Brady. Probably lots of reasons. He certainly would have cost the 49ers lots of money.

Brady also would have wanted to run his own offense. Would Kyle Shanahan dump his own scheme and turn over the offense to Brady? Probably not. Shanahan believes his scheme is the star of the offense -- not the players. And he wants to prove his scheme is the best in the world.

So Brady signed instead with the Buccaneers, whose head coach, Bruce Arians, is 67. Older coaches generally have less to prove -- they just want to win while they still have a job. So Arians agreed to let Brady run the offense however he likes.

Too bad the 49ers didn't have Arians in 2012.