How The Manning Family Created A Quarterback Machine

How did the NFL’s most famous family come  to be? Was it their stardom on the field,   or their drama off of it? Why did perhaps the  most talented member of the family, never play   a snap in an NFL game? How were they able to  manipulate the draft, so that their youngest   son ended up in a premier NFL destination? And  will they be adding a third generation to their   NFL family tree? While the NFL has seen families  with three generations of players in the league,   none have been more influential than the Mannings.  As arguably the NFL’s most decorated lineage,   The mannings are made up of three pro bowl  quarterbacks, all of whom were selected within   the first two picks of their respective drafts,  and in total, have four lombardi trophies to their   name. While the mannings are well known in the  NFL world, how did they become such a prolific   family of quarterbacks, and is the greatest  among them still yet to come? Let’s take a   look at how this family became faces of the NFL,  and left a legacy that will never be forgotten. Archie  The Manning Family’s rise to NFL greatness  started in small town Drew, Mississippi in 1949,   when patriach Archie was born. Archie  Manning, the eldest of the manning triad,   was an incredibly gifted athlete from an  early age. Immersed in football and baseball,   Archie excelled in both, and was drafted into the  MLB four separate times, as well as into the NFL,   when the New Orleans Saints selected him 2nd  overall out of Ole Miss in 1971. As an NFL   quarterback, Archie’s talent was on full display,  making two pro bowls in his time with the saints. But his talent on the field, ultimately, never  amounted to much, as he and the saints only had   one winning season in his nine at quarterback.  Upon retirement after stints with both the   Oilers and Vikings, Archie finished his NFL  career with the worst win percentage in NFL   history amongst quarterbacks with 100 starts,  finishing with an abhorrent 35-103-3 record. Archie may have been a talented quarterback, but  his team failed him on the field. For close to a   decade, Archie played on a Saints team that lacked  sufficient talent on both sides of the ball,   proving too much for the eldest Manning  to overcome. Beyond football Archie was   also a family man, marrying his college sweetheart  Olivia. Archie and Olivia gave birth to three sons   while Archie was with the saints: Cooper, Peyton  and Eli - and all three were football stars. Cooper Cooper, the eldest of the three manning brothers,   was the only wide receiver of the group, and a  highly touted prospect coming out of high school,   ultimately signing with his father Archie’s  Alma Mater, Ole Miss. Cooper was phenomenal   as a high schooler, and arguably the most  talented of the three brothers in their youth,   and seemed to be on a fast track to the pros.  But prior to the start of his collegiate career,   Cooper began feeling numbness in his extremities.  After some investigation by doctors, cooper was   diagnosed with Spinal Stenosis, a narrowing of the  spinal column that makes contact sports extremely   dangerous. As a result, cooper was forced to  retire from football before his career even began. Peyton While cooper’s football career   was short lived, the middle manning brother’s  certainly was not. Peyton Manning, aka The   Sheriff, was as highly touted as quarterbacks  come. Following in his fathers footsteps,   Peyton was an all star in high school. He played  for Issadore Newman High school in New Orleans,   donning the number 18 to honor his brother  cooper. Peyton had about as much success as   one can achieve in high school, winning  Gatorade National Player of the year,   and had as many as SIXTY offers from division  one programs. Peyton’s decision, however,   was ultimately a contentious one, as he elected  to attend the University of Tennessee, passing up   on the opportunity to play for Archie and Cooper’s  alma mater, Ole Miss. Fans were outraged, filling   the manning’s lines with many angry phone calls  and their mail box with hotly worded letters. But the decision to attend rocky top worked  out just fine for Peyton. While at Tenessee,   the sheriff shined. He took over as the starter  in the fourth game of his freshman season,   and never looked back. Peyteon finished  as the Vol’s all time leading passer with   over 11,000 yards, and won 39 of 45 games as  a starter. His career, with the vols, however,   was not without controversy, as trainer Dr. Jamie  Ann Naughtright alleged Peyton sexually assaulted   her during his junior year, allegations which  Manning denied. Ultimately, the school ended   up settling with Naughtright for $300,000 in  2002, and nothing more came from the matter. In 1997, Peyton’s senior season, the Sheriff  had his best year yet finishing with career   highs in both passing yards and passing  touchdowns, while leading the vols to a 10-1   regular season record. In the SEC  championship game against Auburn,   with Manning and the vols trailing 20-7,  Peyton had arguably the best performance   of his college career, leading the Vols  to an incredible come from behind victory,   finishing the game with over 370 yards passing,  four touchdowns and the game’s MVP trophy. The vols faced off against Nebraska in the orange  bowl, needing a win and a Michigan loss to secure   the national title. The cornhuskers,  however, proved too much for Tennessee,   as they rolled over the vols 42-17. That year,  Peyton finished with numerous awards for his   tremendous season. Peyton won the Maxwell,  Davy O’Brien, Johnny Unitas and Espy for best   college football player, but finished runner up  to charles woodson in the race for the Heisman. After his college days concluded, Peyton  was widely considered the most generational   quarterback talent in quite some time. He was  drafted number one overall by the colts in the   1998 NFL draft, and again, never looked back.  The Sheriff was the immediate starter in Indy,   playing 13 full seasons for the colts,  winning four MVPs and super bowl 41,   where he was named MVP for  his effort against the Bears. In 2010, Peyton missed games due to injury  for the first time as a colt when he hurt   his neck. The injury, cost manning the entire  2011 season and inevitably led to his release   from the colts. But Peyton was not finished. He  signed with Denver and continued his success,   winning another MVP in 2013 as head of one of the  NFL’s most prolific offenses. In the 2015-2016   season, the Sheriff led Denver to a victory in  Super Bowl 50, the franchises first since 1999,   cementing Peyton as one of the all time great  quarterbacks with his second lombardi trophy.   After the victory in super bowl 50, Peyton  retired shortly thereafter, but has remained   relevant even after his playing days have  ended. He hosted the ESPY’s in 2017, is the   star of one of ESPN’s favorite documentary series  titled “Peyton’s Places”, where he goes around   the country interviewing different celebrities,  players and coaches, and of course, hosts Monday   Night Football’s Manning Cast, with another 2-time  super bowl champion quarterback, his brother, Eli. Eli Eli Manning, the youngest of the three manning   brothers, followed in his brother and father’s  footsteps, on his way the NFL. Eli also played   for Issadore Newman high school, setting the  records for career passing yards and touchdowns.   Following his high school career, Eli chose to  attend the family alma mater, unlike Peyton,   signing with Ole Miss. Eli had large shoes to fill  as a college quarterback, thanks to the legacy   his older brother peyton left with the vols. As a  Rebel, the youngest manning brother left a legacy   of his own, winning the Maxwell and Johnny Unitas  Golden arm awards, just like his older brother. Similarly, Eli was also a highly touted prospect  coming out of college, and was widely considered   the best quarterback in a class chalk-full  with other talented signal callers Philip   Rivers and Ben Roethlisburger. But on draft  day, Eli and Archie stirred up controversy.   Leading up to the draft, rumors began swirling  that the Chargers would make Eli the number one   overall pick in the draft. Upon hearing the  news, Archie had a conversation with former   charger quarterback Ryan Leaf’s father about San  Diego’s franchise. After learning the chargers did   little to help Leaf with his personal problems,  Archie decided to flex his NFL influence, stating   that if San Diego made Eli their selection, the  youngest manning would refuse to play for them. With San Diego’s hands tied, they made a deal.  The Chargers agreed to select manning number one   overall, and trade him to the giants,  who would then select Phillip Rivers   and trade him back to the chargers along  with a third, first and fifth round pick,   for manning. At the conclusion of all the  madness, Archie and Eli got their way,   and the youngest manning would play  out his NFL days for the Big Apple. Once with the Giants, Eli began second  on the depth chart behind Kurt Warner,   but took over as the starter in week 10 after a  two game losing streak with warner at the helm,   and never looked back. In his  first full season as Starter,   Eli and the giants won the NFC east, and two  years later, they upset the undefeated new   england patriots in super bowl fourty two, thanks  to an incredible effort from their stout defense,   Four years later, Eli and the Giants did it again,  once more toppling the Belichick and Brady led   patriots in super bowl 46, thanks again to a great  defensive performance, and more Manning heroics. However, After their second super bowl, things  slowly deteriorated for Eli and the giants,   only making the playoffs one more time in Eli’s  final 8 seasons. In 2019, the team drafted Daniel   Jones to be Eli’s successor, and in that season,  Eli would start his final game with the giants,   as the team, and the fan base, had grown tired  of Eli’s inability to attain consistent success. Following the 2019 season, Manning  retired, and while his legacy will   always be headlined by his two Super Bowl  victories over the NFL’s greatest dynasty,   his statistics have led many to  questions just how impactful he was,   finishing his career with 117 wins and 117  losses, for a perfectly mediocre .500 record. Arch After Eli’s retirement,   the NFL was manningless for the  first time in over two decades,   and is anxiously awaiting to see if a third  generation of Manning will start a game under   center in the league. While cooper was never  able to grace the NFL with his play on the field   due to his career ending injury, his greatest  gift to the league may yet be on the horizon.   Archie Manning, grandson of the man who started  it all, is entering his sophomore season at the   University of Texas, as one of the most highly  touted quarterback recruits in quite some time. Young Arch played for Issadore Newman, just like  his uncle’s Peyton and Eli, breaking the former’s   career touchdown record with 93 total TDs,  and the latters career passing yards record,   with just shy of 7300. Many questioned whether  Archie’s high recruitment ranking was a result   of his play or just his name, but as of late,  the young Manning has laid to rest many of those   questions, and shown why he was so highly  thought of coming out of high school. While Quinn Ewers is still the starter for the  longhorns heading into the 2024 season, Archie may   be hot on his heels. The third generation manning  star has made headlines for his play of late,   when he wowed media and fans with his performance  earlier this year. In Texas’ spring game,   Archie threw for a 75 yard touchdown on his  first attempt, started the game 10 for 10,   and finished with 355 yards passing along with  three touchdowns to only one interception. With play like that against high level  competition, there’s no question Archie   will uphold the manning family  tradition and become the fourth   member of the NFL’s most popular family  to be drafted within the first two picks. There is still quite some time until we’ll  see Archie on an NFL field, but if the young   gunslinger is able to live up to the hype, he will  cement the manning family’s legacy as NFL royalty. Conclusion Thank you for watching! Don’t forget   to check out our last video, which did a deep dive  on the Chicago Bears’ Quarterback problem, and   how they may have solved it. 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