Listen, Peyton: It's time to quit

The NFL never has had it so good. With record attendance numbers, monster TV ratings, and both labor peace and mega broadcast deals locked up for the next 10 years, it’s all rainbows and lollipops in commissioner Roger Goodell’s world.

Super Bowl XLVI was the most-watched sporting event ever in the US, Giants receivers Victor Cruz and Mario Manningham had the best seats in the house at the Grammys on Sunday night, and the NFL draft will cause twice as much buzz on Twitter as any presidential debate in 2012.

And that’s why Peyton Manning needs to retire.

As the quarterback and Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay continue to maneuver in a strategic chess game of public relations and misdirection, my thoughts are on the league, the NFL shield, and the future of the game’s greatest ambassador.

Whether Manning has been medically cleared by doctors or not — Manning was cleared by two different doctors last week, but Irsay insists he hasn’t been officially cleared by the Colts organization just yet — the fact the longtime face of the NFL had three very serious neck surgeries in 19 months should cause widespread concern and caution. For whatever reason, it hasn’t.

As my fellow members of the media scramble to photoshop images of number 18 in Redskins and Dolphins jerseys this week, I can’t help but side with TNT’s Charles Barkley, amazingly the one clear-minded, rational thinker on the subject with a national platform. Last week, Barkley told reporters: “My first opinion is that I don’t think Peyton Manning should play football again. You’re talking about a neck. I know he’s got a couple of young twins. I don’t think he should play football at all.”

The four-time league MVP had spinal fusion on Sept. 8. That surgery, the last of the three, was, by far, the most serious.

Reports of Manning’s return to the field were breathlessly covered by an adoring NFL media last week. Agent Tom Condon got the word out to his cohorts in the press that the workout went well and the reviews were rather positive, across the board. With the exception of NFL Network’s Mike Lombardi, who said Manning struggled throwing the ball to his left, the response was overwhelmingly rose-colored.

"He threw it accurately, he threw it with a good, tight spiral and he threw it with velocity,'' said former Colts GM Bill Polian, now serving as a media talking head, himself. “Marked progress” was the term Polian used on ESPN’s “Pardon the Interruption.”

But this isn’t Joe Namath playing on two bad knees for the Rams. This isn’t Joe Montana slinging it for the Chiefs with a surgically repaired elbow. It’s not Bo Jackson fielding fly balls with a new hip in Comiskey Park. This is, arguably, the most recognizable face in NFL history coming off major neck surgery.

Call me a coward, call me a worrywart, call me a Debbie Downer — but that still worries me.

Click here to read the full Fox Sports article by Peter Schrager.