Peyton Manning Done?

Austen's Goal Line Stand:

This might be the best we get out of Peyton
Manning for the foreseeable future.

It has been many weeks since I have done one of these, but there really just has not been too many issues I have felt strongly about so I have kept my mouth shut. However, it seems about the right time to start talking about 2012 and what that means for Peyton Manning.

I have been saying for a long time now that Manning's injury is more significant than the Colts have let on. In the NFL, when it comes to injuries, no news is bad news. If there had been any improvement or any sort of progress, we would have heard about it.

The media is constantly desperate for more stories in the NFL (heck even Pacman Jones pleading to a misdemeanor is still a storyline). If Peyton had been seen even throwing a football on his front lawn, that would have been big news. This means he still is not even close to being able to practice on a football field. Considering how much time he has already had to recuperate, this does not bode well for his future as a starting quarterback in the NFL.

If anyone could come back from such an injury, it would be Peyton, who works harder than probably anyone else in the NFL. However, considering how complicated a neck injury can be (i.e. complicated enough that Peyton took a trip to Europe in order to have experimental surgery that seeming did not work) and Peyton will be turning 36 in a few months, it seems unlikely that we will ever see Manning playing at the same level we have seen in the past.

Even if Peyton returns to the field, what type of shape will he be in after being unable to do any sort of football activities for over a year? It could take an entire year for Peyton to just get back into football shape and at that point whatever team he is on will have a 37 year old quarterback with huge injury concerns.

Quarterbacks tend to decline rather quickly once they are past their prime. Look at Donovan McNabb, who only a year removed from a Pro Bowl season could not last six full games as the starter in Minnesota, a team that went 2-12 without him yet was still happy to release him. There were signs of Peyton's decline even before his injury in 2010. He threw 11 interceptions in a three game span, which I believe was the worst three game span for any quarterback ever. On top of that, he again faltered in the playoffs and lost in the Wild Card round to the Jets.

The Colts cannot afford to pass up on a prospect like Andrew Luck and bet on Peyton returning to full strength, and I do not think there is any way a new GM and coach would do such a thing. I am sure that the Colts will try to keep Peyton and draft Luck, but it would be very difficult to fit the two of them under the cap, especially since the Colts have so many player who will be entering free agency.

No matter where he ends up in 2012, Peyton will have to take a huge pay cut, the Colts paid him over $20 million to not play football this season. If he is traded or released, he should only be looking at teams with very strong offensive lines as to avoid reaggravating his neck injury. He will also be taking a huge risk coming back because I am sure there are severe consequences to his neck injury worsening that could effect the rest of his life.

I hope that Peyton will be starting again in 2012 so that I can continue to root against him, but I hope his intense competitiveness does not rush him into coming back and cause him to have an injury that has a negative impact on his future. He could make a lot of money as a commentator or coach, not like he needs the cash, but he will definitely have a lot of career opportunities beyond football. So no matter what Manning fans/haters, Peyton will be around the NFL in some way for a long time to come.