The Miami Dolphins were desperate for quarterback help when Ryan Tannehill went down with a knee injury late last season, and they apparently thought there was an outside chance they could convince Peyton Manning to embark on one more Super Bowl quest.
In an interview with the Times-Picayune on Friday, Archie Manning revealed that he witnessed a text message conversation between his son and Dolphins head coach Adam Gase.
“It started with Gase,” Archie Manning recalled. “He said, ‘Hey 18, Tannehill went down.’ He said, ‘I think he’s going to miss some time. The first question I’m going to get at the press conference in the morning is if I’m going to try to bring you to Miami. What do you want me to tell them?'”
Gase and Peyton Manning have some history together, as the former was the offensive coordinator for two seasons with the Denver Broncos while the latter was still there. Despite that, you can probably guess what Peyton’s response was.
“The text message came back from Peyton, ‘You tell them I could probably come play, but there’s no way I can miss carpool the next two weeks,'” Archie said. “So, he was done.”
Archie said before last season that he was asked several times if his son was truly retired, and the answer was always the same. Those who watched Peyton in the playoffs in his final season saw that the future Hall of Famer was out of gas, but Gase probably would have liked his chances better with Manning instead of Matt Moore. It was worth a shot.
