Peyton Manning still doesn't have feeling in fingertips following 2011 neck surgeries

Peyton Manning was quick to regain his elite level of play after undergoing multiple neck surgeries in 2011, but he's still dealing with aftereffects of the procedures now four years later.

The Denver Broncos' star quarterback told MMQB's Peter King that he's yet to regain feeling in the fingertips of his right hand, and that doctors have recently indicated that he shouldn't expect it to return at all.

"I can't feel anything in my fingertips," Manning said. "It's crazy. I've talked to a doctor recently who said, 'Don't count on the feeling coming back.' It was hard for me for about two years, because one doctor told me I could wake up any morning and it might come back. So you wake up every day thinking, Today's the day! Then it's not."

Manning has continued to perform as one of the league's most productive signal-callers in each of the three seasons after joining the Broncos. That he's doing so without feeling in the fingertips of his throwing hand makes his consistency all the more impressive.

While many attributed his disappointing 2014 stretch run to a late-career decline, Manning explained that an illness he dealt with prior to a Week 15 game against the San Diego Chargers may have caused the quad injury that affected him for the rest of the season.

"I threw up all night. Then, in the game, I moved to the right on a simple scramble and my quad cramped on me. It lingered. I couldn’t shake it the rest of the year. I really studied it hard this offseason, whether it could linger into this year or whether it was isolated. I just think I got dehydrated, and that caused it," Manning said. "I don’t think you can blame it on my age. It was just an isolated thing. I've made it through every other season, and this offseason I went through a state of the union physically, if you will, and I started training earlier and made some dietary changes."

Despite the late-season struggles that played a role in a disappointing conclusion to the Broncos' 2014 campaign, the future Hall of Famer still finished the year with an impressive 4,727 yards and 39 touchdowns.

Manning now appears to be healthy heading into the 2015 campaign, having put off retirement for at least one more season, and the Broncos should once again be in position to contend for a Super Bowl title as a result.