Five-Time MVP Peyton Manning Will Announce His Retirement
Peyton Manning, the NFL's all-time leading passer and its winningest starting quarterback, told the Denver Broncos that he is retiring, a spokesman for team says.
Manning is stepping away from the game after winning his second Super Bowl and after 18 seasons.
"When you look at everything Peyton has accomplished as a player and person, it's easy to see how fortunate we've been to have him on our team," John Elway, Broncos Executive Vice President of Football Operations and General Manager, said in a statement. "Peyton was everything that we thought he was and even more—not only for the football team but in the community. I'm very thankful Peyton chose to play for the Denver Broncos, and I congratulate him on his Hall of Fame career."
ESPN, which first broke the story, reports:
"History will show the quarterback made four Super Bowl trips with two titles, set a mountain of records and earned a place on football's Mount Rushmore.
"Manning, who played 14 seasons with the Indianapolis Colts, was a first-ballot Hall of Famer-in-waiting before spinal fusion surgery caused him to miss the 2011 season. He went to the Broncos as a free agent in 2012 and authored the most prolific season of any quarterback in history in 2013. The Broncos made two Super Bowl trips in Manning's final three seasons."
Manning hinted at his retirement during the playoffs earlier this year. When Denver won the AFC Championship microphones picked up Manning telling New England head coach Bill Belichick, "This may be my last rodeo."
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Transcript
MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
This year's Super Bowl-winning quarterback Peyton Manning is calling it quits. Manning is expected to announce his retirement tomorrow. NPR's Eyder Peralta reports.
EYDER PERALTA, BYLINE: Peyton Manning ended an 18-season career the best way you possibly could.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: And ladies and gentlemen, let's bring in number 18 Peyton Manning and let him hold that trophy.
PERALTA: The NFL's broadcast of the game shows Manning holding up the Lombardi Trophy after winning Super Bowl 50 with the Denver Broncos. Confetti still fills the air and Manning has a huge smile on his face.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
PEYTON MANNING: I'm going to say a prayer and a thank you to the man upstairs for this opportunity for sure as well.
PERALTA: Lew Freedman, a sports journalist who's written a biography on Manning, says that win was important because it solidified Manning's place among the greats.
LEW FREEDMAN: People will think of him as the greatest quarterback of all time. Peyton will retire with most of the significant statistical numbers.
PERALTA: Manning is the quarterback with the most wins in history. He recorded the most touchdowns, the most passing yards and he was crowned the most valuable player an unprecedented five times. Woody Paige, a columnist for The Denver Post who was writing a book about the Broncos and Manning, says he was a game-changer.
WOODY PAIGE: Because he changed the way the position was handled with his hysterics before every play starts and the Omaha, Omaga, how he surveyed and change plays.
PERALTA: But Manning's career was also marked by many roadblocks. He had four neck surgeries. One of them could have been career-ending after the Indianapolis Colts released him in 2012. Lew Freedman.
FREEDMAN: But Peyton came back. He joins the Denver Broncos and has the greatest single-season ever by a quarterback, which kind of tells people he's still got it.
PERALTA: Yet his struggles continued. Woody Paige says Manning was humiliated by the Seahawks in Super Bowl XLVIII. There were allegations of doping and sexual assault, but he kept playing.
PAIGE: Sure, he was a shadow of himself at the end with the injuries last year. But the man persevered, and I think that has to be a part of his legacy.
PERALTA: It wasn't pretty, says Paige, but Peyton is leaving at the peak of his career. Eyder Peralta, NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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