There's no way the Denver Broncos would entertain trade possibilities for quarterback Peyton Manning. And yet. ...

CBS' Houston affiliate, using a local radio station as a source, is reporting that the Houston Texans and Broncos were involved in ""very preliminary" trade talks involving the the future Hall of Fame quarterback this offseason, according to a source.

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SportsRadio 610 in Houston, CBS Houston reported, talked with Ben Allbright of Mile High Sports Radio in Denver, who first said he'd talked to sources talking about the trade and found a source to corroborate the report.

The nature of the early talks on Manning were reported below:

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"The talks between the two teams occurred before Peyton Manning signed his restructured deal with the Broncos and before the Texans signed free-agent quarterback Brian Hoyer. If the Texans were to acquire Manning, they would have had to restructure Manning's deal and SportsRadio 610's source says the money in Houston would not have been as high as the $15 million Manning got from the Broncos. That $15 MIL was a $4 million pay cut for the quarterback."

CBSSports.com reported that the Broncos were quick to refute the report by Allbright on 94.1 FM in Denver. The Texans, however, refused to deny the story to ProFootballTalk.nbcsports.com, instead choosing to issue a "no comment" response.

NFL Media Insider Ian Rapoport told NFL.com's Rich Eisen that he believes the Texans merely were contacting teams with established quarterbacks to gauge their interest in possible trade talks and that the Broncos were one of the team on their list.

Per the anonymous source's information to SportsRadio 610, the Broncos didn't immediately hang up on the Texans, which is almost shocking. Almost.

"It's not inconceivable that the Broncos did try to trade Manning," CBSSports.com. "For one, Manning made sure to add a no-trade clause to his contract, something that wasn't there from 2012-14.

"The clause was added in March, when Manning took a $4 million pay cut to stay in Denver. That $4 million pay cut could have conceivably made it easier to trade Manning."