25 former college football players destined to be future head coaches

3. Peyton Manning, former Tennessee quarterback

For the second half of his career, Hall of Fame quarterback Peyton Manning was a coach on the field. Early in his career, his offensive coordinator in Indianapolis, Jim Caldwell, challenged Manning to be part of the game planning process. Since then, Manning had been an extension of the coach on the field calling his own offensive plays.

There is no quarterback in the history of football who took a more cerebral approach to the game than  Manning. By the time game day came, Manning knew the tendencies of the opposing defense based on what his offense would do. This is why Manning was allowed to call his own plays at the line of scrimmage and audible based on how the defense would adjust to the offensive play.

As a leader, Peyton is second to none. Manning was the type of player that his teammates wanted to play for. Despite being one of the top three or four players in the league during his prime, Manning was still the first one to practice and last to leave. The former Tennessee All-American studied and prepared diligently his entire career.

Manning likely enjoys his space and has made too much money to want the grind of coaching, but if the middle of the Manning children decided to coach, he’d make a really good one.