Former NFL quarterback Chris Weinke doesn’t question whether Peyton Manning will return to football.
Weinke, after all, recovered just fine from a similar spinal fusion surgery in 1998. Weinke spoke to Manning early in the recovery process to pass along his experience.
“My gut feeling: It’s not a question of if he can get back healthy because it’s already been proven it can happen because I went through it,” Weinke told Jim Corbett of USA Today.
The situations aren’t exactly the same because Weinke went through the ordeal at a much younger age. He also didn’t need four procedures in a two-year span like Manning. Weinke did go through the same issues with nerve regeneration in his damaged arm.
“I lost everything, full atrophy in my throwing arm, the nerves that control my right arm were damaged,’' Weinke said. “My head was awkward and I got involved in a head-on collision. I had total nerve regeneration. So I had to in essence re-teach myself to throw.”
Manning is currently in the process of re-teaching himself how to throw. There remains some questions about whether he can get his old arm strength back.
If that happens sooner than later, the bidding war to sign Manning will get crazy sooner than later.