ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — There are people working full-time jobs with a spouse and kids who aren’t as busy as Peyton Manning has been in the five years since he retired from playing football.
Still, Manning is often asked, “What have you been doing since you retired?” 9NEWS asked if a potential return to the NFL -- maybe even the Broncos in some capacity -- was in his future.
“Nothing on the horizon for me right now,’’ Manning said in a one-on-one Zoom interview with 9NEWS last week. “Still doing a lot of the same things you alluded to. Still on too many commercials. Probably on TV way too much.
“I’ve enjoyed since leaving the Broncos being a part of these little teams. Companies like Nationwide, I’m still part of the team, and Brad Paisley and I are in a band together, and we’ve had a lot of fun doing that. Some of the different philanthropic teams I’ve been a part of. I’ve enjoyed doing these 'Peyton’s Places' for ESPN. Talking to old players, got to do a great thing with John Elway, we watched The Drive against Cleveland and just learning more about the NFL I didn’t know before.
“So I’ve enjoyed staying close to it. I enjoyed doing some different things outside of football. I had a 9-year-old basketball game (Thursday) night in Highlands Ranch. An 8:40 tipoff, kind of late for a 9-year old I have to admit. Certainly protected a lot of time for kids’ stuff and our family stuff so I feel pretty busy. I don’t have a one-word job description except I’m just busy.’’
Wait a minute. Manning jokes with country star Paisley about joining his band during his commercials. But is he seriously…
“Now that actually was a joke,’’ Manning said to this 9NEWS interviewer. “You were doing so good. You’re on such a roll and that you brought it right back. It’s a commercial it was meant to be humorous. Sometimes things aren’t 100 percent true make it a better commercial.”
Broncos claim Rams linebacker
The Broncos were officially awarded special teams inside linebacker Natrez Patrick off waivers Monday from the Los Angeles Rams. The 6-foot-3, 242-pound Patrick played four seasons and had three marijuana-related arrests at Georgia. He entered an in-patient program after his junior season and played in all 14 games, with eight starts, as a senior in 2018.
Undrafted in 2019, Patrick played 25 games for the Rams the past two seasons, almost exclusively on special teams.
Mahomes meets Fangio factor
Before beating the Broncos for a tougher-than-expected 22-16 win on December 6 at Arrowhead Stadium, Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes was nearly unstoppable, throwing 30 touchdowns against just 2 interceptions with a 68.8 completion percentage and 115.5 passer rating through 11 games.
After confronting the Vic Fangio defense in game 12, Mahomes had 11 touchdown passes against six interceptions with a 62.2 completion percentage and 89.1 passer rating in six games.
That includes his rough, two-interception Super Bowl game Sunday in a 31-9 loss to the Tampa Bay Bucs. For all the talk of Tampa Bay defensive coordinator Todd Bowles coming up with the blueprint on how to stop Mahomes, perhaps Bowles checked out the scheme work of Fangio, who despite a banged up defense had the KC quarterback frustrated until the fourth quarter.