Today (Monday, March 7th), Peyton Manning announces his retirement from the National Football League and there are many who think he ranks as the greatest professional football player in history.

“When you look at everything Peyton has accomplished as a player and person, it’s easy to see how fortunate we’ve been to have him on our team,” Broncos general manager John Elway said in a statement. “Peyton was everything that we thought he was and even more — not only for the football team but in the community. I’m very thankful Peyton chose to play for theDenver Broncos, and I congratulate him on his Hall of Fame career.”

Last year was Manning’s 18th year but since a neck injury forced him to sit out all of 2011, this was actually his 17th season and it was a tough one for him.  For much of the year his age of 39 years showed painfully, most notably in the lack of power in his left arm and the clumsiness of his balky left foot.  Since Manning does not like to reveal any injuries until absolutely necessary, there were a few games where he just looked bad.  Although he set the NFL record for most career passing yards in the first quarter of the November 15th  game against the Kansas City Chiefs he wound up completing just 5 of 20 passes, taking two sacks and throwing four interceptions. Manning was benched for backup Brock Osweiler (Read more at: http://nesn.com/2015/11/peyton-manning-throws-four-interceptions-gets-benched-after-record/).  In typical Manning fashion he pushed it to the limit and when that limit was reached, he revealed the injury and took the blame.“I thought I felt good enough to play, that’s what I thought,” Manning said after the game. “Maybe it was a wrong feeling, or a false feeling but maybe looking back, that was a wrong indication by me. By going out there trying to help the team it ended up hurting the team. I’m disappointed by that.”

It was only then that Manning and team officials revealed he had been playing with a torn plantar fascia in his left foot and would be sidelined for nearly a month during which he wore a walking cast for over a week to help accelerate his recovery. Many people believed that this was the end for the aging quarterback.  After all, he had just achieved the last great all time record for a quarterback  – most career passing yards (he had already attained the most career passing touchdown record) so this seemed like a good time to go out.  But Peyton Manning was not done, not by a long shot.

He came back in time to help lead the Denver Broncos to their third Super Bowl title with a 24-10 win over the Carolina Panthers in Super Bowl 50.  Denver had the best defense in the league and, before the super bowl  when reporters tried to congratulate Manning on “getting the Broncos to the Super Bowl,” he replied, “I didn’t get this team to the Super Bowl — the defense did, but I sure am glad I got to be a part of it.”

Statements like that are what make Manning so beloved among the league’s superstars.  But is he the best player ever?  Well, you can argue that he won five MVP awards when no other player has won more than three. And those three players are Jim Brown, Johnny Unitas and Brett Favre.

The argument for Manning as the NFL’s greatest player is a good one, and it has to begin like this: Quarterback is the most important position in the game, therefore the greatest quarterback ever has to be in the greatest player discussion. And Manning changed the position. Manning turned pre-snap recognition into a prerequisite for playing quarterback in the modern NFL. His theatrics at the line have been a source of a million jokes, but they were effective. That’s why Manning became the oldest MVP ever (by a few months over fellow 37-year-old MVPs Rich Gannon and Y.A. Tittle) and the oldest quarterback to start for a Super Bowl winner. The game has gotten much more complex in the last 20 years, and Manning was ahead of the curve. He had great physical skills and a tremendous football mind to match.

The debate on Manning’s legacy has raged for years, but his second Super Bowl championship changed it a bit. If you’re going to rip him for his teams not winning in the playoffs before when he was clearly the best player in the league, he has to get credit for winning a second ring even when he was a shadow of himself, right?

Manning has 14 Pro Bowl selections, tied for the most among any player at any position according to Pro-Football-Reference.com. No other quarterback has more than 11 (Favre and Brady are tied for second with 11 each). Manning is a seven-time first-team All-Pro selection. Otto Graham also has seven All-Pro selections, and no other quarterback has more than five. Montana, Brady, Terry Bradshaw, Bart Starr and John Elway have seven first-team All-Pro selections combined, same as Manning. Only nine players, when counting all positions, have more first-team All-Pro selections than Manning.

Manning also has career records with 71,940 passing yards, 539 touchdowns, he’s fifth in NFL history with a 96.5 rating, third with 270.5 passing yards per game, fourth with a 65.3 completion percentage and first with 56 game-winning drives. He also set single-season records in 2013 with 5,477 passing yards and 55 passing touchdowns in what is among very few candidates as the greatest single season by a player in NFL history.

And if winning is your thing, Manning became the first quarterback to start for two different franchises in a Super Bowl win. Quarterback wins isn’t a legitimate stat because football is a team game, but if you insist, Manning’s 186 regular-season victories are tied with Favre for most in NFL history. Manning has been criticized a lot for not winning enough, but he’s one of only 12 men with multiple Super Bowl victories as a starting quarterback. Only four starting quarterbacks ever have more rings than Manning’s two.  He changed the way the position is played.  And he did it all with class.

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