The teams evaluating Peyton Manning during free agency weren’t the only people with questions about his durability — oddsmakers share the same concerns.
Peter Burns of AM 1510 in Denver points out that BetOnline.com listed the over-under for games Peyton Manning would play this season before being sidelined with an injury at 8.5.
Until last year, Manning had never missed an NFL game in his career. He also holds the second-longest consecutive starts streak in NFL history at 208. The 8.5 games number says an awful lot about how little faith there is from the sports book in Manning’s ability to stay healthy next season.
Likewise, BetOnline.com had a new prop bet concerning Peyton Manning up on their site a day later that also questioned his ability. They have his brother, Eli, favored to throw more touchdowns than him by 1.5.
Eli has never thrown more touchdown passes in a season than Peyton, though his career-high is 31, which is what Peyton averaged over his past five seasons.
Even though I think the Broncos’ signing of Manning was a worthwhile risk, I very much believe it is a risk. I don’t think Peyton will win another Super Bowl, and I don’t think he’ll be healthy enough to finish the season. We’ll see what happens.
