The Tennessee Titans may have missed out on signing QB Peyton Manning, but they were gracious in defeat. In a statement released on the Titans' homepage, owner K.S. "Bud" Adams, Jr., thanked Manning and the Titans organization for the roles they played in the negotiation process:
I want to thank the whole organization for their efforts in trying to sign Peyton and also to Peyton for the time he put into the process. Peyton called me this morning to inform me of his decision and obviously I am disappointed, because I thought we would be a perfect fit.Now that we move forward, I want our fans to know that our expectations haven’t changed – winning a championship is still the goal. I like our quarterback situation moving forward and we will continue to build the team through free agency and the draft with that goal in mind.
I also want to commend Matt Hasselbeck and Jake Locker. They were thrown into a very difficult situation. Matt was very good for us last year; and at some point, we expect Jake to be our future franchise quarterback.
Manning announced his decision to sign with the Denver Broncos on Monday morning and is expected to be introduced in a press conference on Tuesday.
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