With the recent stories about Peyton Manning, the Al-Jazeera story linking his wife to HGH and of course, the resurfacing of the University of Tennessee training room incident involving him and athletic trainer Jamie Naughtright, one might think that the NFL’s TV partners might be shying away from hiring him as a potential analyst.

While Manning has not made his plans known for the 2016 season and beyond, the conventional wisdom is that he will retire and look for other ventures. And while he was thought to be a commercial pitchman, the stories that recently surfaced have brought his reputation down.

And while the TV networks haven’t said recently whether they want to hire him should Manning retire (they have in the past), one has expressed interest. According to the Sporting News, NFL Network has said it will look into bringing Manning on board if he decides to go into television. A network spokesman gave Sporting News the following statement:

“NFL Network is always interested in former players who are looking to enter the media business when they step away from the game. Should that be the decision Peyton makes this offseason, I’m sure we’ll reach out to him.”

NFL Network has a large stable of analysts including Deion Sanders, Steve Mariucci, Michael Irvin, Kurt Warner, Marshall Faulk, and Willie McGinest. Manning would be one of the biggest hires in the history of the network.

Before the stories about Manning came out, it was thought that he would make for a very good analyst, but now, he might be toxic especially if the Tennessee story particularly boomerangs. But at least he knows he has one option for now.

[Sporting News]

About Ken Fang

Ken has been covering the sports media in earnest at his own site, Fang's Bites since May 2007 and at Awful Announcing since March 2013.

He provides a unique perspective having been an award-winning radio news reporter in Providence and having worked in local television.

Fang celebrates the four Boston Red Sox World Championships in the 21st Century, but continues to be a long-suffering Cleveland Browns fan.

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