Former Colts’ coach Tony Dungy favours QB Peyton Manning’s return to Indianapolis-NFL News
Indianapolis Colts’ former coach, Tony Dungy, has joined the class of ex-chairman, Bill Polian, who is hopeful of quarterback, Peyton Manning’s prospects for playing for Colts yet again.
Dungy said on Monday, March 05, 2012, that it was unlikely for the player to move elsewhere in the league and that he still had chances of returning to Colts.
Interestingly, Dungy’s latest stance has negated his statement in October 2011 through which he touted the quarterback’s departure from Indianapolis to explore opportunity with another franchise of the National Football League (NFL).
He said:
"I think there is a chance. I hope it happens. I hope he does end up back with Colts. I think that's where he should finish his career."
He also said that the player would be misfit for any other team.
The former coach added:
"I don't know if there is a perfect fit. And that's part of the problem. If you are Peyton and you want to play, you're better going back into a known situation."
Colts’ former vice chairman, Bill Polian, has been expressing the same hopes before and after his departure from the team.
Polian is probably the only official who has spoken in favour of the player’s recovery and return more frequently.
Both Polian and Dungy have been associated with the QB in the past and have played a role in developing Manning as a star player. They still believe in his ability to play football again.
They may be true to their respective assessments and statements as a leaked video has recently revealed Manning throwing football at an aggressive pace.
Earlier, an independent orthopaedic surgeon had also given an optimistic opinion on Manning’s recovery and his chances of returning to previous level of fitness and strength.
He said that the player’s recovery was going through a ‘dormant’ period of time when the recovery remains unnoticeable, but the teams looking for signing him can calculate his current health and fitness level by monitoring the trajectory of the progress
over the past few months.
All these developments remain well within the player’s explicit desire of staying with Colts for more seasons to come, and to achieve this goal, he even has offered to get his deal redone by the management.
Yet the employer, Jim Irsay, has remained unmoved on the issue, and it is unclear if he is going to retain the player as the deadline (March 08, 2012) of his current deal approaches.
Manning is due an amount of $28 million optional bonus from Colts and the payment will activate his deal for another four years.
Otherwise, he stands the opportunity of hitting the free agency after the NFL trade deadline of March 13, 2012.
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