Houston (CBS Houston) – If Peyton Manning had his choice, the Texans could be battling for home-field advantage in the AFC instead of the first overall draft pick this weekend. Veteran newsman Bob Allen joined MaD radio Wednesday morning and shed some light on Manning’s interest in Houston during the 2012 offseason.

“Spencer Tillman works with Archie (Manning) in New York on CBS on the weekends,” Allen said on SportsRadio 610. “When Peyton became free and clear Archie told Spencer that Houston was his first choice.”

On the Broncos weekly conference call with local media, Manning tap danced around which specific teams he was interested in during the 2012 offseason.

“Certainly I was kind of wide open to the whole process. It just all happened so fast.” Manning said. “I was kind of curious as to what teams were interested in me and once I found those teams out, those are the kinds of teams that I ended up talking to.”

When asked directly by SportsRadio 610 if the Texans ever contacted him he denied it.

“They did not.” Manning said.

According to Allen’s interview with SportsRadio 610 the interest between Manning and the Texans may not have been mutual. Bob McNair’s public comments from that time period seem to echo that sentiment.

“We’ve got a quarterback (Matt Schaub) that we think is sound. We think his foot is going to be fine. He’s got a great arm and he can take us to a championship.” Texans Owner Bob McNair said on SportsRadio 610 in March of 2012. “(Manning) says he’s 80-85 percent healthy but you don’t know if he will get to 100 percent. There’s a lot of risk (other teams are) taking because they can’t work him out.”

SportsRadio 610 spoke with Spencer Tillman but he declined comment. We also reached out to Manning’s agent, Tom Condon, who said the Texans never initiated discussions with Manning.

“He’s a once in a generation type player,” Former Texan Travis Johnson said. “If the Texans had a chance to get him they should have sold their mother to get it done.”

After the 2011 season the Texans were coming off their first playoff appearance in franchise history and Matt Schaub was dealing with a significant lisfranc injury. To be fair, the Texans had no way of knowing whether or not Peyton Manning would ever return to his old form.

For the complete interview (Click Here)

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