It would be awesome if future Hall of Fame quarterback Peyton Manning were holding out for a job with the Denver Broncos, but what would his role be?
We know Peyton Manning has been talking to a lot of people in the NFL, but he admitted he’s not been talking to anyone — or at least, not the New York Jets — about an executive role.
Manning showed up at Broncos OTAs last week and made himself available for just under 20 minutes to the media, and talked about his current goings-on as well as what the future might hold.
That future doesn’t include a GM role with the New York Jets, a role with the ESPN Monday Night Football crew, or any other official role with an NFL team at this point in time.
With Peyton in such high demand, what gives?
“He has certainly paid his dues. He is all football. He is a grinder. And I think he'll do a great job.”
— Denver Broncos (@Broncos) May 30, 2019
Peyton Manning on Coach Fangio, the @ProFootballHOF, @JoeFlacco & more » https://t.co/9XYjt0oI52 pic.twitter.com/79Q5rGpfPF
The idea of Manning joining a team’s front office is intriguing, but is he the type of guy who is going to grind away at the tape and build a roster in his post-playing days? The grind of being a coach in the NFL has never really seemed to appeal to Manning.
As a matter of fact, his consistent string of appearances around the country mixed in with his family time seems to be a pretty ideal scenario and not even being a voice on Monday Night Football or apparently an executive with an NFL team has been able to pull him from that at the moment.
When the timing is right, it seems like Manning will undoubtedly return to the NFL, but he’s clearly being selective and he’s also not in any rush to move away from the Denver area.
As Ryan Koenigsberg alertly pointed out, Manning still refers to the Broncos in ‘we’ form.
Peyton Manning: “We need to get back to playing solid, fundamental football around here. That’s what wins games. That’s kind of been the core of what the Denver Broncos have been about and I think Vic will bring that.”
— RK (@RyanKoenigsberg) May 31, 2019
Peyton still says “we” when referring to the Broncos.
Of course I’m speculating here. I have no inside information about what Peyton’s future plans are, but we can dream of hypotheticals, can’t we?
Manning is eligible for the Hall of Fame in 2021, and he will certainly be a first-ballot selection. I am guessing after Manning gets his gold jacket and is enshrined in Canton, OH, he is going to re-evaluate his options and continue to make appearances here and there between now and then.
You want to know something else that happens in the 2021 offseason? John Elway’s contract with the Denver Broncos as general manager expires.
What if there is some type of passing of the torch between Elway and Manning here? I don’t know that Elway would simply hand Manning his GM position without something else in play here. Maybe Elway becomes part of the ownership situation, or maybe he helps whoever is appointed to that position make business decisions and ultimately takes over what Joe Ellis is currently doing.
This is overly simplistic, and I know that, but what if Elway essentially moves up into Joe Ellis’ job with Brittany Bowlen taking over as the ‘owner’ in 2021 and Manning steps into the Broncos’ GM role?
A former player jumping into a GM role with no prior executive or extensive talent evaluating experience is no longer unprecedented with John Lynch coming out of the TV booth to be the GM of the San Francisco 49ers.
We’ve also seen it from Mike Mayock, who was almost strictly evaluating college players for TV before he was hired by the Raiders to be their GM.
What if Manning took over day-to-day operations of the Broncos from the personnel side of things and John Elway took over the day-to-day operations from a business side of things, while the Bowlen family reclaims its spot atop the game of thrones that is the Broncos’ ownership situation?
Again, I know that’s a really simplistic way of thinking of it, sort of like thinking you figured out a Sudoku in a minute without checking your answers, but it might be a decent place to start spit-balling ideas.
Elway is a Broncos lifer until he isn’t. Manning seems to be waiting for the perfect opportunity and what rush is he in to take a job when he will be in high demand until the day he takes one?
Manning has the luxury of waiting for his gold jacket if he wants to do that. He is getting his feet wet in evaluating by doing some film work for ESPN right now.
I’m not saying anything is certain, but if we put this out there, maybe we can will it into existence.
How great would a brain trust of Elway and Manning be?