Peyton Manning ended his career in historic fashion. Like very few before him, he went out on top, with a Lombardi Trophy in hand.
Of course, people will point to his subpar performance and say he didn’t lead the Broncos to the Super Bowl, but 20 years from now, that won’t matter; he’s a two-time champion, and that’s all history cares about.
Still, it would have been a massive surprise if Manning decided to come back for another season, foregoing retirement in search of one more chance at glory. He clearly wasn’t the player he once was, and the chances of him finding himself in a position to win another championship would have been slim to none.
Nonetheless, his agent, Tom Condon told Andrew Brandt of “The Business of Sports” that teams would have signed Manning if he was interested.
“I did [talk to teams about Manning],” Condron said, via Sports Illustrated. “And there was interest. Peyton loves the game and has a great deal of respect for it as well … I don’t think he envisioned being a guy that would hop-scotch from one team to another. In his mind it would have been Indianapolis start to finish.”
It was unquestionably a tough decision for Manning, but in the end, it was the right one.
