By Kevin Murphy ’12

Peyton-mania has finally died down to manageable levels. He’s going to Denver, so now it’s time for everyone to shut up about him. I mean after I have my say, of course.

There is no disputing that Manning has been a great player over the course of his career. He is, arguably, the best quarterback of his time. But is that time over? There are some signs that it indeed is.

First of all, he’ll be 36 at the start of next season, and that equates to ancient in professional athlete years. Add to this fact that the Broncos signed him to a five-year contract worth $96 million, and this whole business starts to sound fairly absurd.

On top of all of that, Manning has undergone four operations on his neck … as in at the top of his spine. Now, I’m no spinal surgeon, but if you ask me, that’s a red flag for someone who spends much of his professional life being run down and ravaged by 300 pound defensive linemen.

Seems to me that giving Manning a shot at this stage in his career is at best risky, and more likely, totally reckless. Peyton is synonymous with Indianapolis sports and an Indiana icon, but the Colts won’t even give him another shot. Of course, it’s easy to understand why Denver was tempted to make this move.

John Elway is calling many of the shots over at Mile High, and as a hall-of-fame quarterback himself, he understands the value of a great quarterback like Manning. He also understands how important the ability to accurately and efficiently throw the football is to the quarterback position.

These are abilities that last year’s Bronco quarterback, Tim Tebow, visibly lacked. Presumably, it was all Elway could do to keep from violently gagging as he watched Tebow sling the pigskin seemingly willy-nilly around the field. So he took a gamble on Peyton Manning.

Will Peyton-mania be more successful than Tebow-mania? Only time will tell if this move will pay off, but I for one think that the odds are stacked against it.