Peyton has been very quiet about his injury as he doesn’t want to ruin any prospects. It looks pretty clear at this point that Indy is going to let him go and draft Andrew Luck in the first round.
What will Peyton do? Poll to come.
Sorry, that should be “Accept a job as an NFL assistant coach.” :smack:
“Replace Mark Sanchez as QB of the New York Jets.”
Why is this limited to just the Jets? There are a number of teams that would gladly sign Manning if he turns out to be able to throw the ball more than 17 yards come March.
Also, why no college coaching options on there?
I said “other” because I think he’ll go a team other than the Jets. In fact, I think the Jets is a pretty unlikely destination for Manning. They seem very committed to Sanchez, for whatever reasons. If he’s healthy, which is of course a big if, I think Arizona is a great fit for him.
Rumors are stirring that the Jets are courting him, which is why I put it as an option. I haven’t heard about any other teams’ interest.
Not to derail my own thread, but I think Sanchez is finished. He’s a mediocre quarterback who has been called out by his own teammates for not being a hard worker and being lazy at practice.
I didn’t put any college options because any NFL team would pay him easily double what any college can.
Play 3 bad years for the Redskins
NCAA head coaches and assistants’ salaries, at the highest levels, are competitive with their NFL counterparts. There is maybe a 10-15% difference at schools with comparable budgets and fan bases to an NFL franchise, certainly not double, and certainly not for a man with zero coaching experience at any level no matter how good a player he was.
Obviously, I’m not a doctor and have no way of knowing how healthy Peyton Manning is. If he’s in worse shape than I know, all bets are off.
But he’s such a competitive guy (all starting NFL quarterbacks are) that I’m sure he’ll try to keep playing as long as he possibly can. Very, very few quartebacks quit while they’re still in anywhere near peak form. I expect him to sign with some other team next year, and to try very hard to stick around a few more years.
The Jets are an intriguing possibility, but I voted “other” because there are several places I could see him going. Thing is, at his age, Peyton is not looking for a rebuilding program. He wants to play somewhere he can win another Super Bowl. He’ll only play on his own terms, for a team that seems like it’s only a QB away from being a contender. The Jets make sense, but so do several other teams.
As I say, if his neck is in much worse shape than I know, that changes everything. But if he’s anywhere close to 100%, I’m sure he’ll keep playing until they drag him off the field.
No one is courting him at the moment, because if they are, they’re in violation of league rules, since Peyton is still currently a member of the Indianapolis Colts.
:dubious:
It’s rare but not unheard of for teams to give managerial or head coaching jobs to star baseball or basketball players with little or no coaching experience. But it simply isn’t done in football.
As smart as Peyton Manning is, only a desperate or crazy GM or athletic director would give him a head coaching job right now. And somehow, I just don’t see him spending a few years doing the grunt work of a quarterbacks coach or an offensive coordinator.
Not immediately upon retirement, though. That kind of thing hasn’t happened in decades, and I wouldn’t expect to see it any time soon in any big-money sport. Even if he did retire, I don’t think he’d go into coaching right away. He’d probably take some time off, maybe do a little studio analysis when the playoffs start, and then begin to decide what he wants to do with his time.
Peyton will have all kinds of options… but as I said, teams don’t just hand head coaching jobs to guys who haven’t done at least a few years of grunt work as an assistant or as a collegiate head coach. And I just don’t see Peyton Manning putting in those years.
I can think of baseball players who were given player manager positions without any prior experience (Pete Rose and Frank Robinson come to mind). And a few NBA stars were handed head coachig jobs without any prior experience (Larry Bird and Magic Johnson both come to mind).
But it NEVER happens in football. Peyton isn’t going to be the first.
Well, if his injury is bad enough, he may retire for fear of injuring it even worse and becoming paralyzed.
Some info: "Peyton Manning has been medically cleared by two doctors, including Dr. Robert Watkins, who performed the most recent surgery on the Indianapolis Colts quarterback’s neck, to resume his NFL career, sources told ESPN senior NFL analyst Chris Mortensen and ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter.
The sources said Watkins examined Manning recently in Los Angeles and concluded the stability in his neck would have allowed the quarterback to play this Sunday if the nerves in his arm had regenerated to a satisfactory performance level."
ESPN Report
Medically cleared is not the same as being able to make throws with the velocity he had before. The local talk radio guys are harping on the point that, even if he can medically play football, if he can’t put the same zip on throws that he used to, he doesn’t have near the value that he’ll probably expect.
All that said, I expect the Colts to cut him, and Manning to go test the free agent market/go ring shopping. I think Denver is an intriguing possibility, as all of the other significant playoff contenders are either set at QB, or have newly drafted understudies.
What I would have liked to have seen, as hypothetical Colts GM, is to tear up Manning’s old deal, explain that he needs to showcase his talents in a familiar system, and get him to play for a 1-year, easily movable, initially cheap contract. The idea being that he can play Weeks 1-8 to 10, and then be moved by the trade deadline. Hopefully, any deficiencies in the Colts’s offense would have been identified and patched, so as to prevent Luck (or RGIII, I suppose) from being Gabbert-ed. Peyton would go along with this with the idea that he could have some input on where he would go, and that his 2013 contract would be much greater than what he could find as a medically-unproven vet in the 2012 FA period.
Of course, Peyton could have told the Colts to go screw. Have fun seeing what teams are likely to pay for a QB who may be knocked out of football with the next sack.
Any team would have him, even as a backup QB, although he might not take that position. But any hapless team out there now would want him. He seems like a good choice for the Raiders. They like beat up, broken down QBs.
Eventually, I would love to see him end up as an NFL coach.
Maybe he could work at Tennessee, his alma mater, for a few years.
The LAST thing I want happen to him is for him to be paralyzed like his older brother almost was.
Peyton and Eli are good guys.
And, for what it worth, GO GIANTS!
I think he’s going to go the commentator route, at least initially after football. I think he’s got the charisma that could carry him to acting or politics if he was so inclined. I do not expect him to play again.
The doctors agree he’s not able to throw at game speed because the nerves in his arm and/or shoulder need to regenerate - which doesn’t seem like a small thing - but they say he should get there long before the next season starts. What’s actually going on here, I think, is that Manning and his people are trying to make it clear he is going to play next year and is going to be healthy, undercutting the Colts’ ability to say they have to let him go because he’s just not able to play. That means the Colts would either have to keep him or tell their fans they just don’t think he’s worth it and want to rebuild; they don’t get the easier option of saying they wish they could keep him but he’s not healthy. Irsay seems pissed off at this development. He pointed out that Manning hasn’t been cleared by the team’s doctors, which is true, but of course he hasn’t been cleared. They’re months away from practicing again, let alone starting the preseason games. Oh yes, and there’s this contract situation. Either way it’s a media dispute and I see it as a clear indication that things are going south between Manning and the Colts.
That’s not going to work. If they cut him, he’s not going to give them a cheap contract while they demand he prove himself so they can trade him midseason anyway. It’s very debatable that he “needs” to do that. Other teams will offer more money and a better welcome, and possibly a better chance to win. Were the Colts interested in keeping him, they might be able to talk him into reducing and spreading out his bonuses and agreeing to some more incentives if he can really play like he did in recent years.
Again, Cooper Manning wasn’t almost paralyzed, and he wasn’t injured. He quit playing football because he had a defect called spinal stenosis, which was causing numbness in his hand and elbow. I don’t know if he was at any risk for paralysis, but the spinal surgery ended his career. Peyton Manning doesn’t have that condition as far as I know. He got hurt while playing. Their problems aren’t related and have almost nothing in common.
Again, I’m no doctor, but everything I’ve read and heard indicates that this isn’t THAT kind of injury.
If Peyton plays again, he’d be in no greater danger of that than any other player on the field. He just MAY not ever be able to make the throws he used to make and that a starting QB needs to make.
I don’t see a good guy or bad guy in the ongoing squabbles between Peyton and Irsay. I understand why each man wants what he wants. Peyton thinks “I’m still an all-Pro caliber quarterback, I put this team on the map, and you owe me some loyalty.” Irsay thinks, “The team stinks, we have to do a major overhaul, you’re hurt and getting old, and we may HAVE to get rid of you. That’s nothing personal, you’ve been great, but you CAN’T be the future here. But I don’t want to be painted as the villain who got rid of the teams biggest hero.”
At this point, Irsay is probably hoping against hope that Manning will suddenly declare that he’s stepping down to “spend more time with his family” or “pursue other opportunities.”
Again, I understand why Peyton wants to keep playing AND why Irsay wants him to quit. But there’s no way to make them both happy.