On Sunday night, one of the greatest quarterbacks of history was inducted into the Hall of Fame. He filled his speech with touching words about his family and the legacy of football. However, that’s not all. Peyton Manning, addressing the Canton crowd at his special night, couldn’t resist making fun of a fellow all timer on his journey to the Hall. With former on-field rival Tom Brady seated in the audience, Manning joked that Brady won’t be reminiscing on his own Hall of Fame career until he’s eligible “in the year 2035.”
Manning laughed after lamenting the shorter window for induction speeches. “And speaking of rivals: my good friend Tom Brady is present tonight and, by the time he receives his induction speech, in his first year in eligibility in 2035, he will only have enough time to post his acceptance speeches on his Instagram account.”
Another classic Manning-Brady moment.@TomBrady
📺: #PFHOF21 Enshrinement on @nflnetwork pic.twitter.com/r03kVcEBhw
— NFL (@NFL) August 9, 2021
Manning took other opportunities to poke fun at the speech time limit, joking that former Ravens star Ray Lewis had just wrapped up his own long-winded speech from the 2018 class. But his remark to Brady got some of the heartiest laughs after the Hall of Fame crowd initially booed mention of the Buccaneers quarterback’s name. Manning and Brady were rivals in NFL football’s early days. They went head-to-head 17 times, starting in 2001. Brady, 44, is still in uniform with no end in view.
NFL players are not eligible to be inducted into the Hall of Fame until after they’ve been retired at least five years, so Manning is forecasting Brady hanging up the cleats in 2030, when the longtime Patriots QB will be 53.