There might not be a former athlete that has figured out their post-sports career better than Peyton Manning.
And I guess you can also add on Eli Manning as well considering the success of ESPN’s alternate broadcast of Monday Night Football coined the “Manningcast.”
Football fans and casual viewers alike have enjoyed the fresh take to presenting an NFL game, and the back-and-forth banter between the two Super Bowl winning brothers has been pretty entertaining to say the least.
Eli and Peyton really have it made with the “Manningcast” too. They both do the broadcast from their respective basements (they aren’t even together in the same place), they don’t have to travel like the actual announcers for the game, and they are making around $12 million dollars off the whole thing every year, according to reports.
They also take multiple weeks off during the season and are basically getting paid to just watch the football game with one another, something that they probably did before anyways. As the “Manningcast” has progressed, they usually have a variety of guests join the broadcast during each quarter, which definitely helps to spice things up.
Celebrities, former players, comedians, coaches, and even current NFL players hop on to the broadcast to discuss the game, talk about whatever else they want to, and plug whatever they want.
The whole thing is a really a “win-win” for everyone involved, and based on a teaser posted by Peyton Manning earlier today, it appears that someone else will be joining in on the fun full-time. The post was captioned:
“Trying something new for the ManningCast this year.”
As you can see, Manning is holding a binder that says “Monday Night Football with Peyton and Eli.
Third host auditions (Confidential).” So, without further ado, allow me to speculate on who I think could be stepping in as a third host for the popular alternate broadcast.
Safe Choice: Cooper Manning
The oldest of the Manning brothers, Cooper was actually the first of them to play football. A spinal injury cut his pigskin-throwing tenure short, but that hasn’t stopped him from continuing on to have a successful media career. Plus, if it’s the “Manningcast,” it only makes sense for him to join in.
Probable Choice: Pat McAfee
The broadcast is an ESPN production, and the worldwide leader in sports just heavily invested in the talent of Pat McAfee (of The Pat McAfee Show).
In doing so, they also let go a lot of long-time ESPN employees, so this choice also makes sense because they wouldn’t have to hire anyone new. And notice that the binder Peyton is holding doesn’t actually have “Manningcast” written on it, leaving the door open for another non-Manning to step in
Wouldn’t Doubt It Choice: Stephen A. Smith
Stephen A. Smith is basically on every single program that exists on ESPN right now. Joining the Monday Night Football alternate broadcast would only make sense considering that Stephen A. seems to be on a quest to be on every television in America.
Longshot Choice: Tom Brady
Imagine how fun it would be to have Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, and Eli Manning together on a regular basis. The three had some historic battles in their NFL quarterbacking careers, and it would be fun to see how the three of them could work together on the same team after battling against one another for so long.
Remember, Tom Brady signed a broadcasting deal with Fox Sports though, and he has yet to start with them.
That’s why as much as I would love for this to happen, it’s probably a long shot.
Personally, I’d vote for the great Marshawn Lynch:
