AFC West Notes: Houston, Chiefs, Manning

San Diego mayor Kevin Faulconer responded to the letter from Chargers special counsel Mark Fabiani’s with a strongly worded one of his own, Stefanie Loh of U-T San Diego writes.

His divisive tone and criticism of this group of volunteers, civic leaders and the City of San Diego as a whole are not conducive to developing a plan for a new stadium. I hope his behavior is not indicative of our ability to find a solution,” Faulconer said of Fabiani.

If the two sides truly want to get a new stadium done for the Bolts in San Diego, Faulconer and Fabiani will have to kiss and make up at some point. Here’s more from the AFC West..

  • The franchise tag continues to look like the most likely scenario for Justin Houston and the Chiefs, and according to Mike Garafolo of Fox Sports (Twitter link), if Houston does get tagged, he may not sign the one-year tender right away. Assuming Houston gets the non-exclusive franchise tag, he could still negotiate with other suitors, though any team interested in signing him would have to be willing to part with two first-round draft picks in that scenario, making it a tough sell.
  • Broncos coach Gary Kubiak laid any speculation to rest today when he said that he wants Peyton Manning to be his starting quarterback in 2015. “I’m expecting him to come back,” Kubiak said, according to Mike Klis of The Denver Post. “We want to play with him. This organization has won a lot of games with him and we want to get back and do it again. Expecting him to come back.” Manning hasn’t said that he’s definitely coming back, but Kubiak seems to think it’s a foregone conclusion.
  • Joel Corry of CBSSports.com explained why Manning will have leverage if the Broncos ask him to take a pay cut. In short, Denver doesn’t have the upper hand because remaining a Super Bowl contender largely hinges on whether Peyton Manning is the quarterback. If Manning doesn’t play in Denver next season, it could be reminiscent of Brian Griese taking over in 1999 after John Elway retired.

Luke Adams contributed to this post.

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