Peyton Manning To Come Back For Another Season With Denver

  • Thursday, March 5, 2015

The Denver Broncos announced on Thursday that VFL Peyton Manning will return to the team for his 18th NFL season. Ironically, 18 years to the day, he announced he would return to the Vols for his senior year on March 5, 1997.

Manning is coming off his second-best season in terms of passing yards (4,727) and third-best in passing touchdowns (39) in his career. In his years with the Broncos, Manning has totaled 132 touchdowns (131 passing, one rushing) and 14,863 passing yards and an average passer rating of 107.8.

This will be his fourth season with the Broncos. Denver has gone 38-10 in those three years in the regular season with Manning under center, with two seasons of winning 13 games and one with 12 wins. In those years, Manning has helped the Broncos win three consecutive AFC West titles and one AFC Championship.

"I've been working real hard and I'm excited to be back with the Denver Broncos," Manning told the Denver Post. "Can't wait for April 13 to get here when the team can finally come together. I'm excited to get to work and get to know the new coaches and looking forward to trying to make 2015 a special year."

Executive Vice President of Football Operations/General Manager John Elway was happy to see Manning return, too: "We're glad to work something out with Peyton so that he will be part of our team this season."

The five-time MVP and 14-time Pro Bowler finished this past season while fighting a thigh injury, which left his return in question.

Given time to think about his decision after the season's end fell into the rearview mirror, Manning said he wanted to return to the Broncos and Executive Vice President of Football Operations/General Manager John Elway echoed that sentiment on his end.

As days and weeks following the last game of the season, major changes came to pass. With the hiring of Gary Kubiak as the Broncos' new head coach, questions were raised about Manning's fit in his offense, but have since been quelled by words from the head coach, the GM and legendary two-time Super Bowl quarterback who played in his offense and from the current quarterback, himself.

"Peyton could fit in this offense very easily," Elway said. "It's a lot more dependent on balance, so therefore Peyton is hopefully not going to have to throw the ball 50 or 55 times. I think for an older quarterback, it's a perfect system to be in."

Manning didn't see it being a bother either.

"If I choose to come back, I feel pretty comfortable--aside maybe from Tubby Raymond's Delaware Blue Hen Wing-T offense--I feel pretty comfortable playing in any offense. I really do,"Manning said in January.

Now Manning returns as a piece of a puzzle on offense that will look different than we've seen in past years. That's an offense that had six Pro Bowlers last season, including him. Obviously, there are still decisions and negotiations to be made for other free agents, but Peyton Manning returning answers one of the bigger questions as the Broncos get ready to begin free agency.

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