National Football League

Don't feel too sorry for Manning

Published Mar. 7, 2012 12:00 a.m. ET

foxsports

So now that their ridiculous dance is over and Peyton Manning is no longer an Indianapolis Colt, it’s probably too much to ask that they go their separate ways with the kind of dignity and admiration their relationship deserves.

That would be the right thing to do, the respectful way to end a 14-year bond that through the force of time and luck simply had to be broken. But what’s about to happen today, when the Colts will reportedly announce they have cut Manning, isn’t merely about a franchise trading in an icon to rebuild its future or about a player wanting to retire with the team he has spent his entire adult life dragging to glory.

It’s about $28 million, and there’s almost no way to have a dignified fight over that.

The fallout of the Colts’ decision to cut ties with Manning will strike an emotional chord throughout professional sports, and especially in Indianapolis. If the Super Bowl week sniping between Manning and Colts owner Jim Irsay was any sort of precursor, this will not be a congenial separation. Emotionally-charged words could be exchanged. Fans will undoubtedly take sides. And the crux of the debate will be whether the Colts owed Manning more than a slap on the back and a free pass to his next destination.

I’ll leave that for others to figure out. But this fight isn’t really about what Manning’s legacy is worth, as though we could put a price tag on that in the first place. It’s about the $28 million roster bonus Manning is owed if he remains on the roster after tomorrow. And if there’s anyone to blame for the Colts making that choice, it’s not Irsay. It’s Manning.

Rewind back to last summer, as the NFL lockout ended and the Colts convened for training camp. It was well-known Manning had struggled with neck issues and that he had even had surgery last May to repair an issue that was causing pain and discomfort. However, when Manning signed a new five-year, $90 million contract in late July that was supposed to take him to the end of his career, it was done with the expectation Manning would be ready to go for the 2011 season.

In fact, Manning and the Colts were so confident in his progress that they never bothered to go get a capable backup in case something went wrong. This had been Manning’s M.O. throughout his career in Indianapolis, where backup quarterbacks were nothing more than his hand-picked errand boys. The only real requirement for holding a clipboard in Indianapolis was that Manning had to like you.

That’s how the Colts ended up with the likes of Jim Sorgi and Curtis Painter as backups, which was all well and good since Manning never missed a game in 13 seasons. But then came season No. 14, and the foolishness of that strategy finally came to the surface. Manning didn’t start training camp. Then he started missing exhibitions. Then he was ruled out of the season opener and revealed the need for a third surgery, this time a single-level anterior fusion that would be much more invasive than the procedure in May.

We’ll never know if Manning waited too long to have the second surgery instead of doing it right after the 2010 season. We’ll never know if he knew more about the severity of the situation than he let on during the negotiations with the Colts last July.

But this is a fact. Manning got paid $18 million last year, making him one of the highest-paid players in the NFL. And he got that money without taking a snap, while his franchise suffered the indignity of 2-14 because it wasn’t suitably prepared for his absence.

At that moment, Manning lost all right to dictate terms – financial and otherwise – of his future.

It’s unfortunate it has to be that way. Manning meant everything to the Colts. Eleven playoff appearances in 12 years. Eight division titles. A Super Bowl championship. Even Lucas Oil Stadium, where the NFL just played a wildly successful Super Bowl, is a monument to Manning. Without him, that stadium probably doesn’t get built and the Colts probably aren’t in Indianapolis.

Whatever the Colts franchise was worth before Manning arrived, it is exponentially more valuable now because of his work. Viewed through that lens, the $28 million doesn’t seem like too much of a parting gift.

But this is still a business, and it’s still the NFL. The Colts invested $19 million in Manning being on the field last season, and he wasn’t. Now, his health and future is even more uncertain and a new franchise quarterback, likely Andrew Luck, will be arriving in the coming months.

This, of course, will be described as a tough decision, an emotional moment. But it’s really the only decision the Colts could make. Manning lost the ability to do this on his terms, just like Joe Montana and Brett Favre and countless other icons who spent their final seasons in new uniforms.

The other important issue is that Manning doesn’t want to be anyone’s mentor. He wants to play. The Colts can give him that. But they can’t give him the $28 million, too. With that much money riding on this decision, it was always going to be impossible to make a clean break.

But don’t feel bad for Manning. He deserves a statue in Indianapolis, but he already got an empty payday in 2011. Whether he deserves it or not, he was never going to get another.