It took a lot longer than most people thought it would, but it appears as though Peyton Manning’s time in the NFL has come to an end. According to numerous reports, Manning will be calling it quits at some point this week after winning a Super Bowl in his final season with the Denver Broncos. Some believed that Manning was going to return for another season, but he definitely made the right choice by retiring.
The truth is that Manning did not really help the Broncos win the title this past season. In fact, he had arguably the worst season of his career, posting a career low in touchdown passes which led to the worst TD-INT ratio of his career. He also posted the second lowest completion rate of his career and had one of the worst QBRs in Super Bowl history. The Broncos were champions because of their defense, not because of Manning.
Manning likely realized that he was in a major decline, but it seemed like that was not going to stop him from coming back. Especially after the PED allegations and the Tennessee sexual assault allegations came out, it looked like Manning was going to come back and try to give the fans something better to remember him by. It is probably a good thing that he didn’t do that because playing another season would have been disastrous for his career and it would have been similar to the play of another great quarterback: Brett Favre.
We all know that Favre is one of the best quarterbacks in NFL history. He was an iron man who played 20 seasons, won a Super Bowl and still holds the streak for the most consecutive games played. However, his final season was forgettable. He was constantly injured and threw the fewest touchdowns in a single season of his career all while missing the playoffs. It was an unceremonious sendoff for him, and Manning would have risked having a similar fate had he come back for another year.
Also, there have been reports that the Broncos were not going to bring Manning back even if he did want to play again. It seemed like John Elway was ready to move on from the veteran as he realized the declining skill set of Manning would not allow them to win another Super Bowl. The Broncos are about to enter a golden age for their defense, and they will be best served adding a capable younger quarterback or sticking with Brock Osweiler as their new starter.
I think Manning understands that going to another team may not be the best idea at this point. Plus, he was given an opportunity to ride off into the sunset as a Super Bowl winner in his final year. It doesn’t get any better than that for one of the best QBs to ever play.
