Peyton Manning’s Future: The Professor’s Take

Peyton Manning’s Future: The Professor’s Take

Peyton Manning’s Future: The Professor’s Take - As exciting and enjoyable as the 2011 season was, especially after the lockout made some worry if there would be a season, it wasn’t the same without Peyton Manning. I know he can’t play forever, and I am not a Colts fan, but if you are a student of the game you have to admire Peyton Manning. He may have played his last down in the NFL (ala Rob Lowe’s tweet) or he may have four to five good (maybe great) years left. So, what is going to happen? I want to give my opinion as I write this on January 21st.

Recently, Peyton declared he would not move back his $28 million dollar roster bonus deadline from March 8th. What does this mean for his future? It means we will know well before the rookie draft if he will be a Colt or not. Nobody but Jim Irsay really knows what will happen here and my sense is that he is not 100% sure right now. The key consideration for Irsay, in my opinion, is an accurate assessment of the entire team right now. They were terrible without Manning….painfully bad. They aren’t really good anywhere but the defensive line and WR/TE and that may change soon. Dwight Freeney and Robert Mathis aren’t getting any younger and clearly need help at linebacker, safety, and corner. Reggie Wayne is as good as gone and Pierre Garcon has failed to demonstrate he can be a true WR1. Dallas Clark will be 33 in June and has been plagued by injuries. So, the Colts need a complete rebuild in my opinion.

What does this mean for Manning? I think it is not good for him remaining a Colt. If the Colts could contend for a tile in the next two seasons, then why not keep Manning to lead the team and mentor Andrew Luck. Without a contending team, you are only delaying the career of Andrew Luck and the massive return the organization makes in any QB taken with the first overall pick. If Manning did not think he would be healthy enough to play, I don’t think he would have had any trouble delaying that roster bonus date. So, I think we see $18 in a different uniform next year. Although I have been around long enough to see greats like Joe Montana, Joe Namath and Johnny Unitas in strange looking uniforms, seeing Manning in anything but blue and white will be even stranger for me. Good luck Peyton!!