Tennessee Vols legend Peyton Manning is annoyed by new quarterback trend
Tennessee Vols legend and NFL Hall of Famer Peyton Manning isn't a fan of the new trend of quarterbacks providing sponsored gifts for their offensive linemen. We've seen quarterbacks hand out gifts to their offensive linemen after a hard-fought season for years. But thanks to social media, those gifts have become a bit more publicized […]
Tennessee Vols legend and NFL Hall of Famer Peyton Manning isn't a fan of the new trend of quarterbacks providing sponsored gifts for their offensive linemen.
We've seen quarterbacks hand out gifts to their offensive linemen after a hard-fought season for years. But thanks to social media, those gifts have become a bit more publicized in recent years. And on occasion, it's appeared that the gifts have been "sponsored".
Manning went on a classic "Peyton rant" about the sponsored gifts on Monday night during the NFC Wild Card game between the Minnesota Vikings and the Los Angeles Rams.
"These linemen gifts okay, a couple of rules," said Manning. "I mean, you and I (Eli Manning) did them and you take care of these guys because they deserve to be taken care of. But we have to spend our own money, quarterbacks. We can't be using sponsors and credit and putting it all on TV. We have to actually spend money. I'm not accusing anybody of not spending money, but let's be sure we keep spending our money to take care of our linemen.
"And the other thing, it's not a Christmas gift. You have to block well to get a gift. A couple of years we didn't make the playoffs, I didn't get my guys anything. You didn't block that well. So don't feel obligated, quarterbacks, if your team doesn't make the playoffs that you have to get them a gift. That's like a participation medal. Block well and I'll give you a gift…no playoffs, no gift…..I'm a big believer in taking care of them, but you got to spend your money from your pocket. And we don't have to put it on TV, we can just do it in the linemen room and make it a personal thing."
It definitely feels like we see these gifts more often than we used to because of social media. And at times, some of the gifts have appeared to be sponsored.
Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow went a more creative route this season with his o-line gift, handing out Japanese Katana swords.
I'm not sure if that's what Peyton had in mind, but it passes the sponsorship smell test (unless Burrow has a Japanese Katana sword endorsement deal we don't know about).
I like Peyton's advice to keep the gifts private (as much as possible). There's no need to make a show of it. It keeps things more personal that way.
