Peyton Manning reminds Joe Burrow: Bengals picking No. 1 for a reason

The Indianapolis Colts went 3-13 in 1997, which led to the opportunity to draft Peyton Manning.

And while the Colts had the exact same record in Manning’s rookie season, they went 13-3 in 1999 and the quarterback credits all he learned during that bumpy first year to setting the tone for a Hall of Fame career. That was part of his recent advice to Joe Burrow, the Heisman Trophy winning QB from LSU who is expected to go No. 1 on Thursday night.

“What I told him, ‘Look, Joe, if you’re the first pick in the NFL draft, you are going to a team that has earned the first pick in the NFL draft,” Manning told ESPN. “There are going to be some holes there. There’s a reason the Colts were picking No. 1 that year. There’s a reason the Bengals are picking No. 1 this year.'”

Cincinnati went 2-14 in 2019, effectively earning the right to draft the Ohio native with the top overall pick.

At one point, some wondered if Burrow would try and leverage his way out of going to the Bengals, similar to the move Eli Manning in 2004, when he forced the San Diego Charges to trade him to the New York Giants.

But Burrow appears poised to selected first in Thursday’s virtual draft, and to a team that needs more than a quarterback. Peyton Manning told Burrow treat it like a marathon, not a sprint, because he may lose more games in 2020 than in his college and high school career combined.

“So that’s what I tried to encourage Joe and all the other rookie quarterbacks, that your rookie year is not going to be the same as your senior year in college,” Manning said. “But if you learn how fast the defensive backs are, how soon you have to get rid of the ball, understand defenses, you can become a better player and really get it going the year or two after that.”

As for the NFL record Manning set his rookie season …

“I threw 28 interceptions my first year. That’s still an NFL record,” Manning joked. “If Joe wants to break that, I’d be OK with that. We’d still be friends.”

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