During the final few years of his career, when people referred to Peyton Manning, they referred to him as a "future Hall of Famer." As of Saturday night, the word, "future" is no longer needed.

To no one's surprise, former Indianapolis Colts and Denver Broncos quarterback, Peyton Manning, was voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame Saturday night in his first year of eligibility. He was joined by former players Charles Woodson, who beat Manning for the Heisman trophy in 1997, Calvin Johnson, Alan Faneca, John Lynch, and Drew Pearson, as well as former pro scout Bill Nunn, and former coach Tom Flores.

Manning ended his 18-year career after winning his second Super Bowl championship with the Denver Broncos in 2016. He finished his acclaimed career third all-time in both passing yards and passing touchdowns (71,940 and 539, respectively), and fourth all time in pass completions with 6,125.

But as any Colts fan, or football fan in general knows, it wasn't just the numbers that made Manning a great player, it was his mind. Very few knew or know the ins and outs of the game like him. Known for his intense film study, Manning often knew what opposing defenses were going to do before they did, and in the event they managed to pull one over on him, you can bet they wouldn't do it again.

Peyton and the rest of the 2021 class will officially be enshrined at the Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio during a five-day celebration August 5th - 9th. Check out the video below of Peyton getting the news from members of the Hall of Fame committee.

Manning wasn't the only former Colt to be nominated for this year's class. Former teammates Reggie Wayne, Jeff Saturday, Dallas Clark, and Bob Sanders were also nominated during the initial announcement back in mid-September. After they were announced as nominees, I made a prediction on each as to whether or not I thought they'd get in. Not to toot my own horn, but I went 4 of 5 on those predictions (Toot! Toot!). You can see that article here.

[Source: NFL.com]

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