NFL Draft Notebook: Peyton Manning scouting report coming out of college
By John Blair
This weekend we saw one of the best quarterbacks in NFL History, Peyton Manning, enter the Hall of Fame. Manning had both tremendous personal and team success during his 18 year career. His greatest accomplishment might have been turning the Colts around from a bottom feeder team to a Super Bowl champion. Along with his success with the Colts, Manning also had an outstanding stint with the Denver Broncos winning one Super Bowl and also taking the team to the AFC West title each year he was in Denver.
In terms of personal accomplishments, Peyton Manning was one of the most successful quarterbacks in NFL history. Some of his accomplishments included being named NFL MVP on five different occasions and also being named Super Bowl XLI MVP. In addition to these accomplishments, he set numerous records during his time in the NFL including throwing for the most yards and touchdowns in a season in 2013.
In this week’s 2022 NFL Draft Notebook we take a look at what scouts thought of Peyton Manning before the 2018 NFL Draft along with several other NFL topics including
- Breaking down Kayvon Thibodeaux game
- How two 49ers are rookies doing in training camp
- Who the top defensive ends in the 2022 NFL Draft are
- And much more
What did scouts get right and wrong on Peyton Manning
Going into the 1998 NFL Draft the big debate was what quarterback should go number one. This debate was largely between two players in Tennessee’s Peyton Manning and Washington State’s Ryan Leaf. While Manning ended up being the number one choice of the draft he was far from the consensus choice and in fact in a poll from Newsday among 20 NFL general managers, coaches, and personnel executives 14 of the 20 people chose Leaf. This begs the question what did scouts see or not see in Manning while scouting him.
The number one thing scouts got right with Peyton Manning in the predraft process is that he had all the intangibles to be a great player. Scouts for the most part loved the way Manning studied the game and his high football IQ. However, one scout made the ridiculous statement that Manning might actually take the game too seriously and that the top quarterbacks like Brett Favre, Fran Tarkenton and Joe Namath didn’t give a (expletive), so the fact Manning was a student of the game was a negative.
It was also evident to scouts that Peyton Manning was far from an elite athlete, which is still something even Manning’s biggest fans can’t argue. Manning was never going to beat teams with his legs and was not a threat to scramble. Despite this concern though Manning was able to destroy NFL defenses with his pinpoint accuracy and ability to find a weakness in any team he faced.
The number one thing scouting reports got wrong on Manning was that he had a limited upside. This was a knock on him as he didn’t have the arm a player like Leaf had coming out of college and was a pure pocket passer. While there was truth to his limited upside physically he had unlimited potential overall. As he grew as a pro he understood the game even more which helped him consistently make the correct reads in the passing game or make changes at the line of scrimmage. These two skills were things that ended up making him an all-time great.
Looking back on Peyton Manning’s career it is important to learn from what ended up separating him from Ryan Leaf. The number one reason why Manning became an NFL Hall of Famer while Ryan Leaf became one of the biggest busts is the maturity and overall intelligence he had. This is an important lesson to remember when looking at players in the upcoming NFL Draft and how intelligence and maturity should outweigh physical skills, especially at quarterback.