Peyton Manning spent most of his legendary NFL career playing for the Indianapolis Colts, and he could have decided to retire as a member of the franchise that drafted him. After giving it some thought, per Dave Furst of WRTV in Indianapolis, Manning opted in the end to go out with the Broncos.
Sources tell me Peyton thought hard about "retiring as a member of #Colts." Gave serious consideration. But, ultimately decided no.
— Dave Furst (@DaveFurst) March 17, 2016
This is pretty interesting news. In addition to the fact that Manning spent 14 of his 18 seasons in Indy, the Colts are getting ready to do a huge ceremony in Manning’s honor.
In Manning’s tenure with the Colts, he won a Super Bowl, went to the playoffs nearly every year (11-of-13 seasons) and passed for 54,828 yards and 399 touchdowns. If he had retired at that point, Manning would arguably be a Hall of Famer.
Yet he spent four more years in Denver, racking up more passing records and another Super Bowl ring.
That he wants to retire (reportedly) as a member of the Broncos suggests that perhaps Manning was quite personally injured by Colts owner Jim Irsay’s decision to go with the young Andrew Luck and cut him loose in 2012.
Whatever the case, the Broncos are surely thrilled that Manning has chosen Denver as his finalPeyt home after 18 years of some of the best quarterback play the NFL has every seen.