When people recall Peyton Manning’s career, they remember his 71,940 passing yards, 539 touchdowns, 2 Super Bowl rings, and 14 Pro Bowl nods. What often gets buried beneath all that greatness is how brutal his beginnings in the big league were.
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Before Manning scripted his Hall-of-Fame journey, he recorded one of the most infamous rookie seasons in NFL history. In 1998, the No. 1 overall pick of the Indianapolis Colts threw 28 interceptions, still the most ever by a rookie quarterback.
Recently, Manning, who played with the Colts from 1998 to 2011 before moving to Denver and ending his career with the Broncos in 2015, peeled back the curtain on his first year. He revealed exactly what he would tell his rookie self today.
“People ask me if I could go back and talk to myself as a rookie, what would I tell myself? It’s easy,” began Manning on the Kittle Things podcast with George Kittle and his wife Claire. Peyton then delved into what it all boils down to, elaborating on how young quarterbacks often struggle and fail to respect how hard the league is without letting it get into their heads.
“There’s a fine line. Rookies should respect the NFL because it is harder. These guys do it for a living. But you can’t give it too much respect,” he explained. “If you over-respect it, you start doing things differently and stop playing the way you’re capable of playing.”
That was exactly what happened during his rookie season, admitted Manning. Forsaking his instincts, he tried to outmatch the league physically rather than mentally. “I did that a lot as a rookie. I kept thinking, ‘These guys are faster, they’re bigger, I have to throw it harder, my footwork has to be faster,’” he recalled.
Now, when Manning watches his film from the 1998 season, he barely recognizes the player on screen. “I watched the film and thought, ‘That doesn’t even look like me out there’… Twenty-eight interceptions later, the work was done. That was my rookie year,” he said.
Rather than viewing that struggle as a stain in his storied career, Manning sees it as essential. “I figured some things out and played better the next year. And maybe I don’t figure those things out if I don’t go through those struggles,” he said.
But that doesn’t mean Peyton doesn’t want his infamous record to be broken. “Am I proud to hold the NFL rookie interception record? No,” he said. “Would I like it to get broken? Yes. Should it be broken now that there are 17 games? Yes.”
Manning also had some advice for coaches developing rookies. “Do coaches take rookies out too early when they’re struggling? One hundred per cent,” Manning said. “Leave them in there. Let them learn.”
Unfortunately for Peyton, it is unlikely his interception record will be broken anytime soon. Today’s league simply does not have the patience to give rookies such a long leash. Even those who were given extended opportunities, like J.J. McCarthy this season, threw only 12 interceptions.
