Joe Namath, Peyton Manning, and.....Trevor Lawrence

Joe Namath thinks the Jets need to think long and hard about choosing Lawrence (ACC photo).

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Thu Oct 22 08:01:03 GMT-04:00 2020

Trevor Lawrence texts back and forth with Peyton Manning, a sure-fire first-ballot Hall of Fame choice in 2021, and has another Hall of Famer in Joe Namath advising his former team to ditch their current starting quarterback and select Lawrence.

Heady times indeed for the kid from Cartersville, Georgia.

I asked Lawrence on Tuesday about his dealings with Manning, and he said the two keep in touch.

"We'll text back and forth every now and then,” Lawrence said. “He's lived his life in a way that is something you can admire. I think he's always really handled himself in a good manner and with respect. Other than that one phone call my freshman year, that was the only time we talked ball a lot.”

Manning, who is widely considered one of the top quarterbacks in NFL history, is by all measures a first-year shoo-in for the Class of 2021. The No. 1-overall pick by the Colts in the 1998 NFL Draft out of Tennessee, Manning played for 18 seasons for the Colts (1998 to 2011) and the Denver Broncos (2012-15), winning two Super Bowl titles, including Super Bowl XLI with the Colts during the 2006 season.

By the time Manning retired from the NFL following the 2015 season, he had broken just about every major record by a quarterback in NFL history, including career passing touchdowns (539), career passing yards (71,940), single-season passing touchdowns (55), single-season passing yards (5,477), total wins (201, including playoffs), game-winning drives (56), comeback wins (45), games with four-plus touchdown passes (35), 4,000-plus-yard passing seasons (14), consecutive seasons with at least 25 passing touchdowns (13) and Associated Press NFL Most Valuable Player awards (5; 2003, 2004, 2008, 2009, 2013).

Lawrence answered “yes and no” when asked if he wears the No. 16 because of Manning, but he wanted everyone to know that Manning isn’t his idol.

"I know a lot of people label him my idol and that's not the case at all. I don't put that on any person. But definitely a person I respect for sure,” Lawrence said.

Manning isn’t afraid to be himself in front of the public eye, something that Lawrence said he is starting to figure out.

"I think that's just something you kind of navigate through the craziness of being an athlete at somewhere like Clemson and hopefully one day the NFL,” Lawrence told me. “It's slowly something you figure out, how to be yourself but have some privacy at the same time. There's a fine line but I think I'm figuring that out. But it's definitely not an easy thing all the time."

Joe Namath was a 1985 inductee into the Hall of Fame after a 13-year career that saw him retire after playing 143 games over 13 years in the AFL and NFL, including playoffs. His teams had an overall record of 68 wins, 71 losses, and four ties, 64–64–4 in 132 starts, and 4–7 in relief. He completed 1,886 passes for 27,663 yards, threw 173 touchdowns, and had 220 interceptions, for a career passer rating of 65.5.[2]

He played for three division champions (the 1968 and 1969 AFL East Champion Jets and the 1977 NFC West Champion Rams), earned one league championship (1968 AFL Championship), and one Super Bowl victory (Super Bowl III).

Namath played most of his career for the Jets, who have started the season 0-6 and stand a good chance at landing Lawrence with the top pick in next spring’s NFL Draft. Namath said this week that the Jets should think long and hard about trading current quarterback Sam Darnold and going after Lawrence.

“It’d be hard to pass on Lawrence, I’ll tell you,” Namath said Wednesday in an interview on the Jake Asman Show on SportsMap Radio. “He’s just a marvelous player and has been the last few years.

“Everything about him — his passing ability, his movement, his habit of winning — he’s a monster. So whoever is going to have a chance to get him will probably take him.”