Myers: Peyton Manning is retired, but a comeback makes sense

Michael Jordan came back, Brett Favre came back, Magic Johnson did, too. Muhammad Ali kept coming back. So did Sugar Ray Leonard.

Question: Can Peyton Manning say never mind to his retirement less than one week after saying goodbye? Can there be Manning 2.0 so soon after Manning 1.0?

Answer: Why not?

The circumstances in Denver have drastically changed since Manning’s tearful farewell Monday. It was time to retire, he said. It was time, he was right. But now the Broncos, the Super Bowl champs, don’t have a quarterback and Manning doesn’t yet have a new job.

If Manning and the Broncos knew for sure on Monday that Brock Osweiler would be off to Houston within 48 hours, would Manning have retired? Archie Manning and Peyton’s agent Tom Condon, didn’t return messages Thursday looking for comment, but my feeling is that Manning and Broncos GM John Elway would have mutually agreed to squeeze one more year out of Manning’s career and make a run at defending their Super Bowl title.

The Broncos were prepared to turn things over to Osweiler, even if negotiations on a new contract had not yet resulted in a deal. It was considered a formality; the job belonged to him after his mostly successful seven-game audition last season. He was the heir to the Manning kingdom.

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But Osweiler pulled off a stunning move Wednesday by taking more money from the Texans and saying no thanks to following Manning. Speculation is he was not happy about being benched in the final game of the regular season and held a grudge and wanted out.

Now it at least has to be considered: Who better to succeed Manning than Manning?

“When someone thoroughly exhausts an experience they can’t help but revere it,” Manning said Monday.

I would rather have a physically limited Manning running the Broncos offense and going for a Super Bowl repeat than putting my trust in Colin Kaepernick or Robert Griffin III, who have each seriously regressed after early success. I would also rather have Manning in charge in Denver than Ryan Fitzpatrick.

All indications are Manning’s retirement was finalized when nothing attractive from any other NFL team came his way. There were rumors about the Rams, but a key team official told me at the Super Bowl that was not going to happen. There was speculation about the Texans, but did Bill O’Brien really want a 40-year old running his offense? Manning and Browns owner Jimmy Haslam had a strong Tennessee connection, but why would he want to play in Cleveland?

The Broncos one week ago were not an option. Elway and coach Gary Kubiak were ready to move on. They wanted Osweiler. So Manning retired before the Broncos would have been forced to cut him by Tuesday at 4 p.m. to prevent his $ 19 million salary from becoming guaranteed.

As much as Manning loves football, not having a starting job and having a body that was breaking down forced him to make the logical decision to retire. Even though Elway and Kubiak nudged him to the door, Manning still went out at least with the appearance that it was on his own terms.

So forget all the tears and the tributes to Manning over the last week. Football is so clearly still running through his veins and it hasn’t stopped in the last five days. Now there is a team for him and it’s his old team. Elway saved a lot of money when Osweiler hit the road, and he can save more by slicing Manning’s $ 19 million salary, just like he did in 2015. Manning took a cut down to $ 15 million and then made back $ 2 million by getting to the Super Bowl and another $ 2 million by winning the Super Bowl. As much as Manning appeared done in the playoff run and the Super Bowl, it has to be tempting now for him to reconsider.

It was eight years ago that Favre retired in March when he felt pressured by the Packers to make a decision. “I’ve given everything I possibly could give to this organization, the game of football, and I don’t think I’ve got anything left to give,” he said. “And that’s it. I know I can play. But I don’t think I want to.”

A few months later, he showed up unwanted in Packers training camp — by then they were all-in on Aaron Rodgers — and he was traded to the Jets. He retired again after the season, then wound up playing two more years in Minnesota before he retired for good.

Favre was never embarrassed by his indecision. Manning has so much respect for the game and its history that he would be extremely concerned about how he would be perceived if he changed his mind. He can’t worry about that. Instead of trying to hang on for one more year as Joe Namath did with the Rams and Johnny Unitas did for the Chargers, Manning would come out looking like a team player.

He would buy Elway time to draft a quarterback next month and then expose him to The Manning Way for a season. The Broncos could try to pace Manning through the season, giving him extra practice days on the sideline, with the goal to get him to January as healthy as possible.

“I’m totally convinced that the end of my football career is just the beginning of something I haven’t even discovered yet,” Manning said. “Life is not shrinking for me, it’s morphing into a whole new world of possibilities.”

Maybe the new world will end up looking an awful lot like the old world.

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