On Friday afternoon, the student newspaper at Duke university reported via Twitter that Peyton Manning threw no passes during his “workout” for the Broncos.
The Chronicle has since clarified its contention, piecing together a timeline based on information from three reporters who staked out the Duke football complex during Manning’s visit.
The timeline reflects a 16-minute window after Broncos officials arrived at the Duke indoor practice facility (at 1:49 p.m. ET) and Manning and Broncos officials moved to another building that does not have a practice field (at 2:05 p.m. ET).
The Chronicle bases its assumption on the whereabouts of the Duke players who apparently showed up to catch passes from Peyton. The players, believed to be tight end Cooper Helfet and receiver Austin Kelly, arrived at 1:25 p.m. ET, did not accompany Manning to the other building at 2:05 p.m. ET, and later gathered at the outdoor practice field at 2:14 p.m. ET.
Though not expressly stated in the timeline, the account implies that Manning at no point joined Helfet and Kelly on the practice field after 2:14 p.m. ET, and that the trio at no time re-entered the indoor practice facility.
According to the Chronicle, Duke coach David Cutcliffe said on ESPN2’s NFL32 that Manning threw 60 passes on Friday. It’s theoretically possible that all 60 were thrown during that 16-minute window. It’s possible that some were thrown before Broncos officials arrived at 1:49 p.m. ET. Regardless, the Chronicle pegs the duration of the time that Broncos officials, Manning, and the receivers were together in the indoor practice facility at 16 minutes.
Though that’s 15-and-a-half minutes more than that grainy bigfoot-sighting video that appeared on YouTube two weeks ago, 16 minutes of workout time seems a little light for a deal that reportedly will average $18 million annually.