Peyton Manning’s voice cracked and he was on the verge of tears several times during his eloquent farewell address Monday in Denver.
But it’s Jets fans who should be crying because it was exactly 19 years ago Peyton Manning elected to return to Tennessee for his senior year — even though he was graduating in just three years with a degree in speech communications — rather than declare for the 1997 draft with the Jets holding the first overall pick.
As a result, the Jets are still looking for their first franchise quarterback since Joe Namath. Not to worry. It’s only been 40 years.
One of the many phone calls Manning made on Saturday night to inform his inner circle that he was retiring went to Bill Parcells, who had become a confidante over the years. Four years ago, when Manning had doubts he could return after his fourth neck surgery, he would call Parcells, who encouraged him but also quizzed him about how he was throwing and what he was doing next.
What was the conversation like the other night when Manning called?
“Actually, he just wanted to say thanks for being able to talk to me, that he enjoyed the competition, just the general things that someone who wanted to express their gratitude would say,” Parcells told the Daily News. “Hey listen, I’m flattered. We talked about five minutes. I told him there are other things out there, you can make a difference doing something else. And he will.”
Does Parcells have any regrets about not committing to Manning as the first pick, which factored into him staying in school rather than making himself available for the Jets?
“I don’t look back on those things,” he said. “I knew he was going to stay in school.”
Parcells is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame because he’s one of the great coaches in history. He was a better coach than general manger. He just had been hired as the Jets coach-GM in 1997 with Rich Kotite handing him the first pick after a 1-15 season. The Jets quarterback was Neil O’Donnell, who had just finished the first year of his five-year $25 million contract. Even though he was a Jersey guy, he was not a Parcells guy.
The NFL doesn’t want teams encouraging players to leave college early, but realistically, if Parcells had told Archie Manning that he was going to take his son Peyton, there was a good chance the NFL would not find out about the backroom chatter. Or Parcells could have just denied it. Manning was considered the best quarterback prospect since John Elway in 1983 and if Parcells had to bend the rules a little bit to get a franchise QB, so be it. For years, he claims the league office is the reason he couldn’t express his allegiance to Manning.
“We were being threatened pretty strongly by the powers that be,” Parcells said. “They were watching the Jets. They were watching us like hawks. But hey, that’s the way it is.”
Parcells studied every throw Manning made as a junior at Tennessee. Archie Manning called him twice before Peyton announced on March 5, 1997, that he would be returning to school. He was calling on behalf of Peyton, who wanted assurances from Parcells he would take him if he came out. He wanted to play for Parcells, he wanted to play for the Jets, he wanted to play in New York, but he didn’t want to declare for the draft and then be concerned that Parcells would trade the pick.
“Peyton wanted me to call Bill,” Archie said.
Archie told Parcells he thought there was a good chance Peyton would stay in school. That was an adjustment in Manning’s thinking because throughout his junior year he later said he was pretty intent on leaving. Around the NFL at the time, the consensus seemed to be if Parcells committed to Manning, he would leave Tennessee.
“I’m telling you, he’s pretty torn,” Archie told Parcells.
Parcells didn’t tell Archie his plan.
“If Bill had come out and said, ‘Peyton, you’re my guy, I’m going to pick you,’ it may have made it a little bit harder,” Archie said. “But I swear he wanted to be a senior.”
Once Parcells wouldn’t give Archie an answer, Peyton held a news conference one month ahead of the April 4 deadline to make a decision. One close friend of Parcells told me the coach didn’t believe in Manning as much as others. The NFL had yet to be a league dominated by the passing game and Parcells was more intent on trading down to add picks to build the defense. Parcells eventually traded down twice and selected linebacker James Farrior, who was a much better player when he signed with the Steelers as a free agent than he ever was for the Jets.
“Almost 19 years ago to the day, I announced my decision to forgo the draft and stay at the University of Tennessee,” Manning said at his news conference Monday. “It was one of the smartest decisions I’ve ever made.”
Seven years later, the Giants pulled off a draft day trade to get Eli Manning, who has won two Super Bowls in his first 12 seasons. When Peyton was a free agent in 2012, then-Jets GM Mike Tannenbaum immediately made a phone call, but Manning was not interested.
Parcells and Manning would have been a terrific combination. They were almost the same person when it came to football. Parcells would have loved coaching him.
“I would think so,” he said.
It might have convinced him to coach the Jets more than just three seasons.
“I don’t know,” Parcells said. “I coached too many already.”
Parcells and Manning vs. Bill Belichick and Tom Brady. Now that would have been something.
Link : http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/football/jets/myers-bill-parcells-made-peyton-manning-jets-qb-article-1.2556313
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