Peyton Manning Rumors: Reports of Manning's Health Should Be Met with Skepticism

Can we all agree that Peyton Manning and his camp have been acting a little suspiciously lately?

If not, we better discuss this in further detail. We'll all be better off if we get to the bottom of this thing.

The last week or so has painted a rather puzzling picture of Manning's health. First, Jason Cole of Yahoo! Sports reported that Manning's career itself may be in jeopardy. A couple days later, ESPN reported that Manning had been medically cleared to resume his NFL career.

Later that night, Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay tweeted this:

OK, who the heck knows what's actually going on here?

Bob Kravitz does. He seems to have taken over as the go-to Manning guy for the Indianapolis Star, and he spoke openly and honestly about the Manning fiasco on Tony Kornheiser's radio show on Wednesday.

Via CBSSports.com:

"

I think people are starting to sway over to Jim Irsay's side on this. It's such a no-brainer. It's been a no-brainer since they went to 0-13. He could give them money to play football. Andrew Luck has got to play, okay? It's not even about the $35 million anymore. I mean, the guy's arm is a noodle, he can't throw like an NFL quarterback, and by March 8, there's no way of knowing whether he's going to be ready or not.

"

March 8, of course, would be the team's deadline to pay Manning a huge option bonus if they want to keep him on the roster. If they don't, he'll become a free agent.

But the "arm is a noodle" is the line that stands out here. All the reports concerning Manning's health mention the fact that the nerves in his right arm are still regenerating, making it hard to throw the ball with his usual velocity. He can throw it, but he still has healing to do. Kravitz is suggesting that Manning has a lot of healing to do.

So why the medical clearance report? Kravitz talked about that too:

"

It comes out on Thursday night about six o'clock -- that doesn't come out unless the Peyton Manning camp wants it to come out. They're putting public pressure on Jim Irsay. It was calculated, it was deceptive, I didn't think it was a good time to do it. And, yes, he absolutely stole the Super Bowl. … I don't think there's any doubt that he stole some of the attention away from the Super Bowl. 

"

Whether or not Manning was trying to overshadow the Super Bowl is irrelevant now, but this is Kravitz saying what we were all thinking at the time. That was as good a time as any for Manning's camp to get the word out that he was healthy, especially seeing as how Cole had just published a report that had people thinking his career was over.

Ultimately, the Colts will have the final say on just how healthy Manning is. It seems inevitable that they will part ways, and they will if the Colts are unable to determine that Manning is going to come back and be the same quarterback he's always been.

Whether or not Manning continues his career at all will invariably be determined by doctors acting in the best interests of an NFL team, whether we're talking about the Colts or some other team.

For the time being, this is the great unknown. Manning may be medically cleared to resume his career, but whether or not he can still have a career will be up to team doctors.