Peyton Manning and Michael Jordan are two athletes who transformed their respective sports en route to becoming legendary names at their craft.
It turns out the two go all the way back to 1997.
After Manning completed his junior season at Tennessee, many fans and analysts alike wondered whether the star quarterback would be entering the 1997 NFL Draft. Manning had just wrapped up his third season at Tennessee in 1996 and – at the time – tallied his career-high in passing yards (3,287). Manning would surely be a well-regarded pick in the draft, but the thought of his senior season still weighed heavily.
While his decision to stay at Tennessee is something that has been well-documented, Manning dove back into the conversation during a recent episode of Bussin’ With the Boys, released on Tuesday.
During the interview, Manning reveals that his father, Archie Manning, advised him to seek out multiple voices to try to get an idea of what people had done before.
“Somehow he helped me get some phone numbers,” Manning recalled while sitting in his Saloon 16 bar on the outskirts of Tennessee’s campus. “So I called Troy Aikman, who stayed four years in college (OU/UCLA). He said he really wanted to be the first pick in the draft. That was important to him – and, he was. Drew Bledsoe left (Washington State) as a junior. He said he knew he was going to be the first pick in the draft as a junior and he was like, ‘I’m ready to go.'”
Manning also dropped one more all-time sports name who went through a similar decision while playing basketball for North Carolina in the mid-80s – Michael Jordan.
After winning the Naismith and Wooden College Player of the Year Awards following his junior season in 1984, Jordan opted to enter his name into the NBA Draft and forewent his senior season. While Jordan did return to complete his degree in 1986, the basketball star didn’t see the reason to stay in school another season. Jordan has already won an NCAA Championship in 1982, as well.
“I’m totally name-dropping here, I talked to Michael Jordan, who came out as a junior,” Manning said with a laugh. “And he just said, ‘Look, I thought I was ready.’ And I guess I came away with, it truly has to be your decision of what you really want.”
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When Manning called Jordan, let’s say, spring 1997, the Bulls’ star had already tallied four NBA Championships, was about to win another in a few months, and still had a sixth to capture the following year. Manning’s call would have likely come in during the 1996-1997 regular season, which is also after Jordan’s quick stint in Minor League Baseball, as the basketball legend had already collected a wealth of experience and knowledge in the sports landscape.
It’s also funny to see Manning speak about Aikman and Bledsoe so casually like two old war buddies, while the Hall of Fame quarterback gets tongue-tied and feels the need to set up his reference as a “name drop” when speaking of the great M.J.
The story is also reminiscent of Zak Keefer’s telling of the interaction from a tweet in August 2021:
“Deciding whether or not to go pro after his junior year at Tennessee, [Manning] called 5 different QBs for advice: Staubach, Simms, Aikman, Bledsoe, Kosar. Then he talked with Michael Jordan. ‘Take the money and run,’ Jordan told him.”
Check out the full clip from Bussin’ With the Boys episode 292 below:
