SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Archie Manning figures the conversation will come at some point in the next few weeks.
After his son Peyton gets some time to enjoy his second Super Bowl championship, Archie will talk to him about the future. Does Peyton, who turns 40 in March, want to keep playing?
“I want to hear his side of it first. I have some ideas,” Archie Manning said outside the Broncos locker room at Levi’s Stadium after the Super Bowl 50 win. “I would never tell Peyton what to do, what not to do. I’ll lay some things out for him. He knows. If he wants to play some more football, he’s going to have to go to another team. He’d be 40. I don’t know. We have not talked about it. The first thing I want to do is I’m just going to say talk to me, tell me what’s on your mind.”
Peyton is expected to ride off into retirement. If he does want to play, as his father said, it will have to be with another team. The Broncos will save $19 million in salary-cap space by releasing Manning and turning the controls over to Brock Osweiler. It seems unlikely Manning will force John Elway to do that, though.
“I think Peyton’s done in Denver … he’s maybe done everywhere,’’ said Archie, who added, “That’s my guess.’’
For Archie, this was a tough year watching Peyton deal with a foot injury that sidelined him and then questions about whether Osweiler was the Broncos’ better option at quarterback. Manning had 17 interceptions in the regular season, and looked like he had no arm strength left at times.
A few months ago, could Archie have imagined Peyton holding the Lombardi Trophy?
“Absolutely not,” he said. “I didn’t think he was going to play again. I really didn’t. His foot was bothering him and Brock was playing well. I just said, well, that’s football. He’s always looked at the good times he’s had and all the great health he enjoyed for so many years. Just for him to get back to play again and kind of help them get that No. 1 seed.”
Archie said Peyton’s relief appearance against the Chargers in Week 17 may have been his biggest contribution to the Broncos in his four years with the team. Instead of being a No. 5 seed, the Broncos got the No. 1 seed in the AFC playoffs with the win over San Diego.
As Archie stood in the hallway, he glanced at his phone and noted he had 200 text messages. Nearby, Giants quarterback Eli Manning stood with his mother and Peyton’s children. Archie has been lucky enough to watch his sons win four Super Bowls. This year was a tough one, though.
“This season was hard,” Archie said. “Peyton spoiled us a little bit. This season was hard, so different. That’s what life is and football has so many similarities. Dealing with adversity, that’s what life is about.”
Archie noted Peyton ran the Broncos scout team and was a backup for a game, two things he had never done before. But this week, Peyton seemed at peace.
“I thought he had a real calm about him,” Archie said. “He called a couple of times and he was kind of calmly curious about what was going on, who was here, who we were seeing. He’s been on that side of it when he wasn’t playing and all the things we get involved in. There was a real calmness about him, that’s what I noticed.”
Additional reporting by Paul Schwartz