Peyton Manning has yet to capitalize on most of the extremely lucrative offers that have been presented to him since he retired from playing in 2016. While many envision the future Hall of Famer as an NFL analyst in the coming years, Manning may still have his eye on working on the inside of an organization rather than analyzing it from the outside.
Kalyn Kahler of Bleacher Report published a lengthy feature on Monday that looks further into what the next big thing could be for Manning. While Manning says it annoys him that “there is this ‘what is he going to do’ watch out there,” people close to him believe the response to that question will eventually be running an NFL team.
Three sources who have spent time with Manning told Kahler that what Peyton really wants to do is run an NFL team’s football operations department while also having an ownership stake. However, it is worth noting that another source said Manning gave serious consideration to the broadcasting offers he received from CBS and ESPN this offseason.
“If he had another month to think about it, he very well might have done it,” the person said. “Many people in his family said, ‘You know what, you should do this.’ … That’s hard to do because you’re not saying, ‘I’m going to try it this year.’ You’re basically saying, ‘This is what I am going to do for the next decade.'”
Manning told Kahler that pursuing a front office job is “just not something that I have moved on yet,” but there seems to be some consensus that it is only a matter of time. Manning had more to say about his post-playing life that is worth reading if you’re interested.
There have been plenty of rumors linking Manning to specific NFL teams, and he admits he has had conversations with executives and owners. Obviously, running a football operations department or purchasing a stake in a team would be a massive commitment, so you can understand why it is not something Manning is in any huge rush to do.
