Nowadays we’ve become used to great quarterbacks being great from Day 1 and even bad quarterbacks playing relatively well as rookies. That wasn’t the case for Hall of Fame quarterback Peyton Manning, who set a record for futility as a rookie that he hopes someone will finally break in 2024.
Speaking at an event in Denver this month, Manning expressed hope that one of the rookies in 2024 will be able to break his rookie interceptions record, which currently stands at 28. He invited any rookie quarterback except Broncos rookie Bo Nix to break it and lamented that nobody’s been able to hit the mark despite seasons expanding to 17 games.
“I played as a rookie, that was not a fun year, it’s well-documented how many interceptions that I threw,” Manning said, via Andrew Mason of DenverSports.com. “If any one of these rookies want to break my interception record I’d be for it. I don’t want Bo to break it, but I’d like to get that one off my resume. You’d think with 17 games they’d be able to do it. It’s 28. It shouldn’t be that hard. But anyway, I’m over it.”
Manning’s rookie season was an historic one for all of the worst reasons. He went just 3-13 as a starter for the Colts in 1998. While his 26 touchdown passes were also a record for some time, his interceptions mark still stands.
In fact, in the 25 seasons after Manning’s rookie year, only Brett Favre and Jameis Winston threw that many interceptions in a single year.
Tough times in the House of Manning.