Skip to content

Irsay: Negotiations to make Manning Colts GM never got serious

Chris Humphreys / USA TODAY Sports

Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay admitted on Saturday to pursuing Peyton Manning to rejoin his franchise in an executive role, but those dreams never got close to materializing.

"Peyton and I have talked through the last year when he came in for the 10th anniversary reunion (of the Super Bowl). Him and I sat and had some time to talk alone ... But there were never any serious negotiations or anything like that for him coming in to be general manager," Irsay said, adding Manning isn't in the picture for the position.

Related - Report: Jimmy Raye III 'clear favorite' for Colts' GM vacancy

Irsay fired general manager Ryan Grigson on Saturday after rumors had been circulating all week that Manning was the clear choice to be his successor. Irsay tried to shoot down those rumors in his press conference.

"I know there were reports that there were negotiations about Peyton being the general manager and Jon Gruden being our head coach. That's not true," he said. "I am not going to talk about every person I talked to in evaluating our program, but that was never something that was in the cards, so to speak."

Though he denied the Manning-Gruden pairing, Irsay did admit to speaking to both men, though he suggests he only spoke to Gruden for an outside opinion on his franchise. As for Manning?

"He is enjoying retirement, enjoying the chance to not be downed in a schedule and that sort of thing," Irsay said. "Right now, it's something where he is not in the mix in the process for interviewing general managers."

Daily Newsletter

Get the latest trending sports news daily in your inbox