ESPN NFL analyst has a take on Tennessee Vols legend Peyton Manning that will have fans spitting out their drinks
A truly head-scratching take.
It goes without saying that players like Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, and Drew Brees are generational talents, among the best to ever play the quarterback position in the history of the game.
Well, perhaps that is unless you are ESPN NFL analyst and former Super Bowl-winning safety Ryan Clark.
Clark went on ESPN on Thursday, and during a discussion about whether Arch Manning is a generational quarterback, he said that he did not believe the aforementioned legendary trio were generational talents.
“I think John Elway was a generational talent. I think Patrick Mahomes is a generational talent. I don’t think Tom Brady, I don’t think Drew Brees, I don’t think Peyton Manning are generational talents. I think Andrew Luck ended up being a generational talent. I don’t think there’s a ton of them out there.”
I don’t really care about the context. That’s absolutely wild and just wrong. I don’t know if Clark is trying to indicate that the players he thinks are generational talents versus those who aren’t in his mind are separated by athleticism. Elway, Luck, and Mahomes certainly were more physically athletic.
But let’s be real here. Talent extends way beyond athleticism at the quarterback position. The ability to consistently throw a quick and accurate football requires an innate talent that is honed through practice. Being able to do that consistently is based off an underlying, built-in ability that very few others have. Otherwise, there would be far more special quarterbacks than there have been in the league.
Being able to process and read a defense requires aptitude, which is also an innate talent, that is also honed through experience and film study. Very few quarterbacks, physically gifted quarterbacks – despite years of practice, film study, and work with coaches – have achieved a fraction of what Manning, Brady, and Brees were able to accomplish. That requires a special ability that few have, which, again, is a talent.
To the contrary, there have been quarterbacks who have been as incredibly physically gifted as one can imagine, and they simply have fallen short of being starting NFL quarterbacks. Vol fans know that well with Joe Milton III, who has elite physical tools, but the finer aspects of the game – touch, poise, reading defenses – have eluded him too often through his career.
So, while I understand (I think) the point that Clark was trying to make, it’s impossible to ignore how Manning, Brady, and Brees become the transcendent players they did over their careers – and that is simply their exceptional God-given talent that they magnified through hard work.
