Cooper Manning shares how he handled being ‘other’ brother amid success of Peyton, Eli

Cooper Manning dealt with a lot of being “the other guy” when it came to his brothers Peyton and Eli during the latter’s success.

A former top high school wide receiver prospect, Cooper Manning had to medically retire before getting a chance to play at Ole Miss. His father Archie and brother Eli played there during their time while Peyton played for Tennessee.

Of course, all three starred in the NFL at QB, with Peyton getting to the Hall of Fame and Eli well on his way. Cooper Manning has been the third brother, despite being the oldest. But he’s learned to live with that, should that moniker come his way.

“I mean, I’ve always been pretty comfortable with who I am,” Manning told Dan Patrick. “I’m super proud of my brothers. I’ve loved every moment of their success. I was in horrible moods when things didn’t go right, you know, on Sundays for them and Saturdays and you know, all smiles and buying everyone drinks at the bar when it went well. So I, you know, I went through it just as much as any rabid fan.

“And probably even more. It’s tough … I’ve enjoyed, kind of having a little bit of a reprieve from that, and now it’s getting ready to crank back up again, where you, you know, every single penalty and you know, drop and catch and is he out of bounds? Just, you just grind and then that night, you sleep on it and think about it over and over.”

If that isn’t support for the family, then we don’t know what is. Cooper Manning spends his time now raising and mentoring his son Arch, who’s entering his third year at Texas in 2025.

The former five-star quarterback is slated to be the starter next fall and there are a ton of expectations on the signal caller.

Arch doesn’t necessarily want to create his own legacy like Hall of Fame uncle Peyton Manning and future Hall of Famer, his other uncle, Eli Manning.

“Yeah, I never really think about that. I’m just here to play football,” Manning said. “It’s a game I love, grew up playing. You’re out there with your friends playing every Saturday. What could get better than that? I’m not here to take someone off the throne or like I’m not worried about my legacy. I’m just worried about playing ball and winning games.”