I am intrigued and very curious about what's going on in the negotiations to land Peyton Manning. That was before my niners were in the fold, now I am down right giddy to find out where all the teams stand to get Manning. One thing I always try to do is figure out the motives of the leaks that are bound to happen in negotiations to get leverage. So in trying to figure out where the niners stand in the Manning sweepstakes the question I ask who stands to gain from this info getting out?

I've seen couple of theories thrown around in the comments section of the many niner blogs.

1) Leaked by the niners FO: This was a ploy by the niners to get Alex Smith in line and to get him to sign the contract that's on the table. I don't buy this one, Baalke didn't have to leak to the media to get this info across to AS. Hell, his agent should have told him even before the workout was going to take place.

2) Leaked by Manning's Agent: This is the very simple supply-demand scenerio. Hey Denver/Tennessee you better pony up the big bucks and do it soon, or we have a superbowl ready team ready to sign Mr. Manning. Don't buy this one either this info very well can be communicated on the down-low.

My theory is that this was in fact leaked by the Manning camp (potentially not even the Agent himself but rather his entourage, or should I say papa Mannning)

I think niners were probably on top of the list for Manning to have the best shot at winning a superbowl in the next year or two. The niners seemed to be happy w/ AS for now, but of course the proverbial tire kicking wouldn't be turned down. I think the Manning camp reached out regarding their interest, and niners FO obliged by setting up the workout (contingent on secrecy). My theory is that niners were blown away, they sent their doctors the very next day for physical. Contract negotiations began soon there after.

Now think about the leverage in this negotiation. By leaking this info the Manning camp has announced to the world, including the niners players that aren't completely sold on AS (believe me there are many), that the niners FO isn't 100% confident and behind their QB. Now if the niners don't offer the contract that Manning is looking for and fail to sign him they are in a weak position to bring back AS. After all the over the top show of confidence in AS, it actually turned out JH wasn't sold on him. Now what do you say to VD or crabs or Moss? Think about it, if this was actually kept a secret then no harm no foul. AS is signed and all is good in the world. This was a way for Manning to force niners hand to up their offer so he can join a team that was a overtime loss away from a superbowl.

What do you think?