Peyton Manning: Latest News Hardly Assures Indianapolis Colts QB's Return

Don't believe the hype, folks.

Just because Peyton Manning has been cleared by his doctors to resume his NFL career doesn't mean he'll be back on a football field in time for the 2012 season, whether it's with the Indianapolis Colts or one of a slew of teams desperate for quality quarterbacking.

Manning was cleared by two doctors, including Dr. Robert Watkins, who performed two of Manning's neck surgeries. Watkins even went so far as to suggest that Manning's neck was in good enough condition to allow him to play as soon as this Sunday.

Of course, Watkins claimed Manning would be good to go in November and might just as easily have been operating on the side of Manning's camp, which wants the league to think/know that Peyton is healthy and ready to play for whichever team wants him.

The bigger issue now for Manning is the collateral damage from his neck problems, namely the triceps in his throwing arm. As healthy as Peyton's neck may be, his arm remains in no condition to allow him to play football. Manning will need time, along with an aggressive rehabilitation program, to allow the nerves in his triceps to regenerate to the point where he can throw somewhat normally.

There remains no projection for when that will happen, much less for when Manning's triceps, even when healed, will be in such a condition as to allow him to play at a level that he sees fit.

In the meantime, this bit of news will certainly give Colts owner Jim Irsay at least some pause as he and his front office consider whether to keep Manning on the roster—and award him the $28 million bonus that he'd earn as a result.

That decision would seem to be simple, especially with the team owning the No. 1 pick in the 2012 NFL Draft, which they are certain to use to obtain Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck.

But while Manning's supposed recovery adds yet another intriguing wrinkle to this head-scratching saga, the future Hall of Famer's return to football is far from a sure bet. There's no telling how the soon to be 36-year-old's wounds will heal in the coming months or if his body, even at its new threshold for full strength, will allow him to perform at or near the level to which he's long been accustomed.

So before anyone starts rolling out the red carpet for Manning's return, remember that his road back to the gridiron is still a long and rather grueling one, and that nobody will know with any certainty whether he can still play until he goes out and performs.

Wherever, and whenever, that may be.

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