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For years now, Peyton Manning’s name has been rumored to be linked to a number of broadcasting jobs, but the future Hall of Famer has always turned down the offers. From the reports of insane money to join ESPN’s Monday Night Football crew, to whispers that the two-time Super Bowl winner will land with another big network, for a variety of reasons, the legendary quarterback just hasn’t had the itch to get in the booth.
While Manning did offer up some sort of reasoning last year when rumors were swirling about a possible TV gig coming his way — saying it’d be too difficult for him to publicly criticize his brother Eli Manning and/or former teammates — now that Eli’s retired, just maybe, there’s a chance we see Peyton take the leap. Unfortunately, it won’t be this upcoming season unless something improbable happens and the guy abruptly changes his mind.
That doesn’t stop people from at least asking the question about Peyton Manning and a TV job, though, especially after seeing the banter he had during the recent golf match pairing him with Tom Brady, Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, which was awesome to see live during this sports hiatus we’re currently in. One person who wanted to know what Peyton might be thinking when it comes to a TV job was Rich Eisen, who asked him about the possibility in a recent interview. Take a look below at what Manning had to say.
Per The Spun:
“I haven’t said ‘no’ forever,” Manning told Eisen. “I said ‘no’ to this year. This just doesn’t feel like the right time. I hate having this sort of check-with-me-next-year type deal, but that’s really how I have approached this chapter. I believe in taking it a year at a time.”
…
“I don’t really have a five-year plan or a 10-year plan. I hear people say that. I loved playing football. I loved everything about it. I’ve just tried to ease into this second chapter by keeping myself busy, keeping myself stimulated, creating a lot of time for my family and to do some things I haven’t had a chance to do.”
Makes total sense, but, shit, anytime Peyton Manning’s on camera he seems to deliver A+ content, and that’s something we all need while watching live sports. And, although we don’t know how he’d do as a color commentator during a game, here’s to betting Manning would more than hold his own and bring a Tony Romo-esque kind of style to watching games — which is awesome, and one of the reasons why Romo recently inked such a massive, record-breaking deal to stay at CBS.
Given the circumstances and uncertainty around, well, everything in the world at this very moment, Peyton’s year-by-year plan seems to be a good one for right now. But here’s to hoping he gets an itch to hop in front of the camera and into the broadcast booth, because it’d only make watching football that much better.