Mile High Morning: Peyton Manning reflects on the wild free-agency process that led him to Denver

[Miles]

The Lead


There's much more to the story of Peyton Manning's free agency decision than you may know.


You might recall the teams involved. You might remember that Manning was working out at Duke University as he recovered from his neck injury.


But do you know about how Manning, John Elway and other Broncos brass schemed to evade the media as they left team headquarters? What about how the Titans drove three hours to observe as Manning worked out at a high school in Knoxville, Tennessee?


You can find many more little details and hilarious anecdotes like those in a new oral history of the decision process from The Athletic. By the end, you'll ultimately get the clearest understanding of why Manning picked the Broncos that's yet been told.


"My dad always said, 'Make a decision and don't ever look back,'" Manning told The Athletic. "I always stuck with that. It was the right decision at the right time, and my advice on those kinds of things, when you make the decision, everybody wants to judge whether it was the right or wrong decision. It's up to you to make it the right decision by going full speed ahead and not looking back."