UPDATE: The Arizona Cardinals released a statement from coach Ken Whisenhunt saying Manning "is no longer an option for us."
You can throw that Arizona Cardinals Peyton Manning jersey you prematurely ordered straight in the garbage -- the Cardinals won't be landing Manning, and Cards quarterback Kevin Kolb got his $7 million roster bonus.
ESPN's saying the Cardinals were informed "they would be wise to proceed without Manning as a candidate to join the team."
To make things worse for non-Kolbs, though, Manning's been hanging out with the San Francisco 49ers, who happen to be the Cardinals' division rivals.
The 49ers, along with the Denver Broncos and Tennessee Titans, are now considered the three finalists to land Manning.
They all have some real top-notch wide receivers to throw the ball at, too, like the Niners' Michael Crabtree, the Titans' Kenny Britt, and the Broncos' -- uh -- Eric Decker?
The 49ers do have Vernon Davis, who is one of the league's top receiving tight ends.
But the Cardinals have Larry Fitzgerald fer chrissakes.
The current 49ers quarterback, Alex Smith, didn't even play like a turd last year -- dude brought his team damn close to the Super Bowl, losing to the New York Giants in the NFC Championship by a field goal in overtime.
Kolb, on the other hand, played in four games (plus a single pass in a fifth game), missing the rest after hurting his toe after three games, then getting a concussion in his second game back.
Kolb led to the team to a 1-3 record in the four games he actually played in, as quarterbacks John Skelton and Richard Bartel helped the Cardinals finish the season at a perfectly mediocre 8-8.
Kolb's no Derek Anderson -- we really hope -- but scoring Manning would have brought a lot of excitement to Arizona.
The good news for the Valley, though, is that baseball season gets under way early next month.
