Confirming rumors that sprouted during the weeks leading up to Super Bowl 50 and afterwards, Peyton Manning’s agent says teams were interested in his services for the 2016 season.
Per Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio: “Appearing on The Business of Sports with Andrew Brandt, agent Tom Condon said that: (1) Peyton Manning told Condon, ‘I really like to play’; and (2) teams were interested in having Manning play for them.”
The crux of the matter, though, is that teams in need of a quarterback are more interested in trying to develop young talent than propping up an aging legend for one more go-round.
With that in mind, Manning likely wasn’t receiving interest as a starter but as a potential mentor for a team like the Los Angeles Rams, who took Jared Goff No. 1 overall. From a team’s perspective, having Manning in the building to teach a young quarterback for a year would be an invaluable resource.
However, Manning had reportedly made it clear to teams during the process that he still wanted “to compete against the very best.”
In the end, it’s probably for the best that Manning went out on top with his second Super Bowl victory. He was able to ride the coattails of an all-time great defense for that second ring. There just aren’t any other situations like that in the NFL, and the Broncos were out of the question.
It would have been sad seeing Manning either playing for a mediocre team or standing on the sidelines with a clipboard in hand. Instead, we’ll all enjoy his humorous commercials this upcoming season while he lives up the good life seeking his next big challenge.