Saturday: Manning will ‘absolutely’ play in 2012
Feb 27, 2012, 3:56 PM | Updated: 4:01 pm
Everybody seems to be doing their own investigating to
find out whether or not four-time NFL MVP Peyton Manning
will return to the football field following an injury-
induced year off in 2011.
Who would know better than a man who’s snapped to Manning
for 13 seasons?
Free agent center Jeff
Saturday spoke about the possibilities of Manning’s
return to the
gridiron over the weekend on NFL Network, and didn’t
exactly tip-toe around the subject.
“He’ll be playing football, I can assure you of that,”
Saturday said. “I hope it’s here, I hope he’s filling
Lucas Oil (Field) next year at this time, but he’ll be
playing somewhere.”
NFL Network host Rich Eisen then reiterated the question
about Manning playing next year.
“Absolutely,” Saturday responded without pause.
Manning is due a huge roster bonus of $28 million from the
Colts by March 8, but speculation is that Indianapolis
will opt to cut the veteran and take Stanford’s Andrew
Luck with the first overall selection in April’s draft.
Manning has had four surgeries on his neck since the end
of the 2010 season.
The Arizona Cardinals are one of the teams rumored to be
in the hunt for Manning should he become available, along
with the Miami Dolphins, Seattle Seahawks, Washington
Redskins and New York Jets.
New Kansas City coach Romeo Crennel also didn’t dismiss
questions about the Chiefs’ possible interest when asked
about it at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis.
