It was tough to watch Peyton Manning fling duck after duck into the waiting arms of Chiefs defenders last Sunday. It has been a bumpy ride for the NFL legend all season, but what should have been a celebration of him breaking Brett Favre’s passing yards record turned into an unceremonious benching leaving with his first 0 TD, 4 INT game ever. Peyton Manning isn’t the first man to play past his NFL expiration date and he surely won’t be the last. In fact, there are several players still kicking about in the league currently that may be next on the bench. Father time is undefeated and now that he’s conquered one of the league’s best quarterbacks, these are his next targets.
DREW BREES, QUARTERBACK (NEW ORLEANS SAINTS)
Drew Brees has been a legend in the Bayou since he took a team synonymous with losing and made them Super Bowl champions. He is also the only man in the history of the NFL to amass more than one season of 5000 passing yards. Brees has four of them. Brees has always been viewed as in the second tier of elite NFL quarterbacks just below Manning and Brady, but Brees has done a lot more with a lot less. That lot less looks like it is finally catching up to him. His offensive line is a mess, even with the acquisition of Max Unger, and his defense is so inept that he barely gets to breath on the sidelines before donning his helmet and doing it all again. He is 36 and outside of the shootout at the OK Corral with the Giants he’s looked every year of that this season. He’s still piling up the yardage but he is laboring to do so just like Manning was in Denver. With his contract running through until next year (at an absurd $30m) and no heir apparent to his throne, the Saints are going to run their QB into the ground just like Denver did to Peyton. Let’s just hope Drew sees the writing on the wall before it’s too late.
ANTONIO GATES, TIGHT END (SAN DIEGO CHARGERS)
Antonio Gates has been one of the best at his position for quite some time. Ever since making the switch from basketball at Kent State to tight end for the Chargers, Gates has been a force to be reckoned with. But as the years passed and the usage of tight ends league wide increased, Gates continued to shoulder more of a load in the Chargers’ offense than he could handle. Injuries have started to mount for Gates and the Chargers have suffered because of it. When healthy, he and Keenan Allen are still the main targets in the San Diego passing game. The thing is that both men have rarely been 100% at the same time. The Chargers have Ladarius Green as Gates’ understudy, but try to use them both instead of grooming Green to be his replacement. Both men are free agents after this season so the Chargers have a tough decision on their hands. Do they place all their eggs in the Green basket or hope that Gates can defy age one more year? It’ll be interesting to see how it plays out after a horrendous 2015 for the Chargers.
JULIUS PEPPERS, LINEBACKER (GREEN BAY PACKERS)
During the Packers’ unbeaten run to start the season, the defensive shortcomings of the Green Bay Packers were masked very well. In their three game losing streak, including an embarrassing effort against Detroit, the defense has shown their age. Nobody has done that more than linebacker Julius Peppers. Peppers has kept his career afloat by moving from defensive end in Carolina to linebacker in Green Bay. Peppers was one of the league’s bargains last year with a $3m cap hit, but he is going to be 36 soon and his contract is going to be triple that value. Green Bay is going to have to blow it up soon on the first two lines of their defense if they are thinking about the future. If Peppers continues to decline as precipitously as he has since the Packers started losing, they’ll have to set those plans in motion earlier than expected.
TONY ROMO, QUARTERBACK (DALLAS COWBOYS)
The Cowboys have been lost without Tony Romo this year which begs the question: What is Dallas going to do when Romo falls apart? It is a realistic scenario for the ‘Boys to consider given the number of upper body injuries that their quarterback has accumulated through the years, including a second broken clavicle this season. It doesn’t seem like Romo is 35 but that is exactly the case. Romo is under contract in Dallas until his age 39 season, but they’ve shown that if he gets injured again they are ill equipped to persevere. Romo has been brilliant in the regular season but his postseason flaws always get the most attention. As time wears on, like with Manning, those lowlights are going to become more and more common. Dallas would be smart to invest in a quarterback apprentice for Romo so that they don’t have to feed an inexperienced kid to the wolves like Denver had to do with Brock Osweiler.
VINCE WILFORK, DEFENSIVE TACKLE (HOUSTON TEXANS)
Vince Wilfork is one of the classiest men in the NFL. He was also one of the game’s premier defensive tackles. Notice the change from present to past tense in that second sentence. Wilfork is still a big body in the middle of the D-Line, now for Houston, but the big man known for his uncharacteristic athleticism has had that all but sapped from him due to injuries and age. That and his high cap number is what saw him move on from the Patriots. He isn’t getting paid nearly as much in Houston, but they are asking a lot of him in support of their current (J.J. Watt) and future (Jadeveon Clowney) defensive stars. You can see Wilfork hasn’t just lost a step, but maybe two or three. The big man has enough charisma to make a more than comfortable life away from the field, let’s just hope that he makes that transition before he sullies the legacy of dominance he built while winning titles up in Foxboro. Don’t let the man who destroyed Manning become him.
Which player from your favorite team do you think has the best chance of becoming the next man who overstayed his NFL welcome? Disagree with any of these choices? Let me know personally on Twitter @TREVORutley or the site @sportsftb.