The biggest elephant in the room is Manning's health. It's clear he still has the burning desire to play football, but like I said, this isn't some run-of-the-mill injury we're talking about.

In September 2011, Manning underwent his third neck surgery in a 19-month span. He can't just rehab the injury and get back out there. He needs nerves in his neck to regenerate.

That's not exactly a given, unfortunately. Peyton Manning is one of the all-time greats, and it would be a shame if he was not able to ever return to the game he loves in a playing capacity.

My gut feeling is that Manning will retire. Any team would love to have a healthy Manning on their team, but I think that ship has sailed, sad to say.

That is the biggest reason why I can't see a Peyton Manning-New York Jets marriage on the horizon. There are so many factors that go into his future as an NFL quarterback, but it always comes back to his health.

The ironic thing is that if he never plays again, his final NFL game was a home playoff loss to Mark Sanchez and the Jets back in January 2011.

Will Peyton Manning get healthy enough to play another down in NFL? My heart says "I hope so," but my gut says no. He's had a phenomenal career, and I wish him the best one way or another.

 

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