Peyton Manning has just one request for the selection of recently drafted quarterbacks. He wants them to surpass his worst record.
The former Indianapolis Colts and Denver Broncos quarterback spoke about the rookie class, which features a record six quarterbacks in the first round, as he accepted the Mizel Institute 2024 Community Enrichment Award on Wednesday.
He jokingly (we think) said he hoped one of them would break his NFL record of 28 interceptions as a rookie, although he would prefer it not be the Broncos’ Bo Nix.
Peyton Manning brings up his NFL rookie interception record: “I mean, if any of these rookies wanted to break my interception record, I’d be for it. I don’t want Bo (Nix) to break it up, but I would like to cross that one off my resume. You would think with 17 games…’ pic.twitter.com/wDLJLMTSLx
— Andrew Mason (@MaseDenver) May 23, 2024
Manning’s comment:
“I played as a rookie. That was not a nice year. It was well documented how many interceptions I threw. If any of these rookies wanted to break my interception record, I’d be for it. I don’t want Bo (Nix) to break it up, but I would like to cross that one off my resume. You’d think they could do it with 17 games. It’s 28. It shouldn’t be that hard. But anyway, I’m over it.”
Manning isn’t wrong when he says the new 17-game season should help his cause, although he would still need a huge outlier season to erase him from the bad side of the record books. The closest rookies since Manning’s first year with the Colts are DeShone Kizer with 22, Geno Smith with 21 and Mark Sanchez and Matthew Stafford with 20.
The context of Manning’s joke was the importance of playing time for rookies. He firmly believes that rookies learn more by playing than by sitting behind a veteran:
“I think experience is still your best teacher. It’s a marathon, not a sprint. I went 3-13 my rookie year and didn’t play very well. The next year we went 13-3. There’s no way that would have happened if I hadn’t played and gone through those struggles and thrown those interceptions and thought, ‘Okay, I can’t do that anymore, these guys are fast.’ You archive it all.
That’s quite handy.
