Peyton Manning to retire Monday
A month after Denver’s triumph in Super Bowl 50 at Levi’s Stadium, Manning informed general manager John Elway that he is following his lead and riding off into that orange sunset just like the Broncos’ boss did 17 years ago after winning his second Super Bowl.
Just shy of 40, Manning will forgo $19 million and a 19th season in the NFL, where he served as both a throwback and a transformer during a glittering career that included five MVP awards and dozens of passing records.
Manning leaves the league he helped popularize to supersize status as its all-time leading passer and winningest starting quarterback, the only one in NFL history to win a Super Bowl with two franchises.
A rare superstar quarterback on the open market in 2012, Manning resettled in Denver, where, despite a right arm weakened by nerve damage, he went 50-15, won his fifth MVP award and made two trips to the Super Bowl in four seasons.
The NFL is investigating allegations that human growth hormone was shipped to his home in his wife’s name following an Al Jazeera report that Manning dismissed as “garbage.”
[...] in a new lawsuit filed last month, Manning was cited as an example of a hostile environment for women at the University of Tennessee for his alleged harassment of a female trainer in 1996.
“I think from the sense of quarterbacks, he’s been fast-paced, no-huddle, dynamic offense, score a lot of points, and score quickly,” said his brother, Eli Manning, a two-time Super Bowl winner with the Giants.