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Peyton Manning says 'Monday Night Football' job 'wasn't the right time' this year

Peyton Manning certainly likes keeping his options open. After all, he’s football royalty and can pretty much do whatever he wants — or nothing at all — from here on out as it relates to the NFL.

But Manning had some interesting comments on Thursday about one big option he passed on in the short term.

ESPN tried to lure Manning into the “Monday Night Football” booth with an analyst job following the return to the field of Jason Witten. The network kept its booth to the two holdovers from last year, Joe Tessitore and Booger McFarland, along with Lisa Salters on the sideline. It certainly would have been interesting to see what might have happened had Manning been interested in the job.

Speaking at Denver Broncos OTAs, Manning said Thursday that it wasn’t the right time for him to make such a move.

That last line is the most interesting. Could he consider that spot or something similar a year from now?

Manning doesn’t smack of a man who is burned out on the league. After all, these quotes come after he just showed up to watch OTAs. He’s still got his football camps and other charity events attached to the league. But it’s unclear what his next move connected with the NFL might be — on the outside looking in, or perhaps as a club or league employee.

Former NFL quarterback Peyton Manning won't be doing Monday Night Football this year. So what's his next move? (Getty Images)
Former NFL quarterback Peyton Manning won't be doing Monday Night Football this year. So what's his next move? (Getty Images)

Where will Peyton Manning eventually end up?

Manning has weighed his options since stepping away from the NFL as a player following the 2015 season. He could have his eyes on something bigger. He has been connected to front-office interest with multiple teams in the past, such as his former Indianapolis Colts and — just last week — the New York Jets. Manning said the Jets never contacted him about their current GM opening, so we have no real idea what his level of interest might have been.

Those types of jobs might not be options for Manning — now or later. After all, he has two very important teams to be mindful of at this moment: the Yankees and Smashers. It turns out that Manning has been working in sports after all.

Manning’s candor and wit are two qualities that might have made him a natural in the MNF booth, and his upcoming “Peyton’s Places” series on ESPN looks like some must-see stuff as it launches in the coming weeks. We’ve seen him vamp on “Saturday Night Live” and in other forums, so there’s a part of a lot of us that secretly hopes Manning will share his other gifts in some public forum. If it’s connected with football, all the better. But that isn’t coming to an MNF booth this year, and as he said, that might never happen.

As Yahoo’s Dan Wetzel wrote last September, the NFL just misses Manning. It still holds true now.

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