Report: Peyton Manning doesn’t feel ready to take on GM-type role with Colts

There has been a ton of talk in the past week or two about the possibility of Peyton Manning re-joining the Colts in their front office, taking on a general manager-type role to ride in and save the day, taking the reins from Ryan Grigson.

So now, with complete silence surrounding Jim Irsay and the Colts about whether changes will be made, there’s still a legitimate possibility that changes could be made. So fans naturally have been hoping that Irsay’s wait means he’s trying to bring Manning in to replace Grigson.

On his show today, however, 1070 the Fan’s John Michael Vincent (JMV) provided the latest on what he’s heard about the Manning situation. Basically, JMV made this much very clear: there’s “definite interest” from Jim Irsay and the Colts on bringing Manning back to the organization - and he stressed that there was definite interest. He added that he doesn’t expect that to change and said that he thinks there will continue to be interest in bringing Manning back. He said “there was a great deal of interest” from Irsay and the Colts in bringing back Manning, and he guaranteed there would be moving forward too. But JMV said that he’s been told that Manning doesn’t feel he’s prepared for that type of role at this time, just one year removed from his playing career. That doesn’t mean it won’t happen eventually, but he’s been told that Manning doesn’t feel ready for it at the moment.

That was the latest from JMV, and the report shouldn’t really come as a surprise. Irsay had and has interest in bringing Manning back, but the question was whether Manning would take on a GM-type role. The latest report seems to indicate that he doesn’t think he’s ready for it yet.

So here’s what that means: perhaps Jim Irsay is still trying to convince Manning to join the franchise, and perhaps he’s still trying to persuade his former quarterback to take over as an executive with the Colts. Or, perhaps he went all-in on Manning and now is trying to figure out what the next-best course is for his franchise. That’s just speculation, but it would possibly help explain the reason for the delay in this decision.

Colts fans will continue hoping that Manning returns to the Colts, and I’m sure Jim Irsay will continue hoping that as well. But the latest makes it seem like it’s nothing imminent, and that means it might not be happening - at least not this year. There’s a lot of uncertainty still surrounding the Colts and it’s impossible to predict what Jim Irsay will do, but JMV’s latest report helps to at least make some sense of some of the recent rumors and why it’s taking Irsay so long to do something.