Peyton Manning Reportedly Turned Down ‘MNF’ to Avoid Covering His Brother

Peyton Manning reportedly turned down an analyst position on Monday Night Football so that he wouldn’t have to cover his younger brother. 

Unnamed sources who spoke to Yahoo! Sports said that Manning didn’t want to cover Eli in the New York Giants game that is on MNF‘s schedule. 

“If he ever decides [Monday Night Football] is something he wants to do, it’s going to be after Eli has finished his career and he gets a little bit further from his era of playing and maybe some of his teammates have moved on, too,” a source said. “It would have been a tough position for him this season, with the Giants being on the schedule. There is a lot of loyalty there for him and I don’t think he’d ever want to be in a position where he’d be conflicted about his analysis. It just wouldn’t have been a comfortable situation this year.”

Manning, speaking for himself, said that he hasn’t yet felt the pull to be a broadcaster. Peyton told Yahoo! that he only ever wanted to be a football player and he’s done that. So, anyone looking to pull in Peyton as on-air talent likely has to wait for him to be ready. 

“I saw where Tony Romo said that he always knew that he wanted to be a broadcaster,” Manning said. “Well, I always knew I wanted to be a football player. That’s all I knew. I was all-in on that job. I didn’t think about anything else while I was playing. And I think that’s a good way to be. I think you’ve got to be all-in on what you’re doing.”