Peyton Manning admits he wouldn't have participated in Netflix show 'Quarterback' as a player

Omaha Productions founder Peyton Manning kicked promotion into high gear on Monday for Netflix’s new show ‘Quarterback.’ The show’s first season, which features Patrick Mahomes, Kirk Cousins and Marcus Mariota, premieres on the streaming giant on Wednesday.

Manning made an appearance on the Pat McAfee Show where he talked up the “unprecedented access” they were able to get the quarterbacks to agree to for the full 2022 season. Netflix also released a four-minute preview of the show’s first episode on Monday.

“Really excited about this piece, it’s unprecedented access,” Manning told McAfee from a vacation in Italy. “We’ve seen training camp, guys mic’d up, Hard Knocks, but this is a whole season. What these guys allowed really just going into their lives for a whole year, I can’t thank these guys enough for showing people what it’s like to play quarterback.”

It's almost time for kick off!

Watch the first four minutes of Quarterback, our new docuseries following Marcus Mariota, Kirk Cousins, Patrick Mahomes. Premieres this Wednesday. pic.twitter.com/NOIsORFmjB

— Netflix (@netflix) July 10, 2023

The former Colts and Broncos quarterback also described why he wanted to go through with the project, which he admitted he would not have done himself as a young player.

“We actually approached a few guys last year about possibly doing this and a couple of them asked me, ‘Peyton, would you have done this?'” Manning said. “It was a tough question because as a young quarterback, I would not have done it. But as an older quarterback, I wish I would have done something like this.

“When you sign up for something like this, you sign up only for the good, like what Patrick Mahomes got to do this year, win the whole thing,” Manning added. “Marcus Mariota signed up for this but he did not know the season was going to go like it went. He gets benched the week he’s having a baby. That’s real-life stuff… When you sign up to play quarterback, you sign up for all of it.”

‘Quarterback’ features Mahomes, Cousins, Mariota in Season One

Super Bowl champ Mahomes played a prominent role as one of the subjects and as the head of 2PM Productions.

Mahomes revealed that Quarterback will feature his baby son as well as all the on-field drama from the Chiefs’ journey to the Super Bowl. In one preview clip, the show teased one of the most tense moments of the 2022 season. Cameras captured the dilemma as Andy Reid considered Mahomes after the star suffered a sprained ankle in the playoffs.

“Our crew was there for it all,” Mahomes said. “This new Netflix series will show the time, preparation and balance that it takes to be an NFL quarterback and perform on the biggest stage.”

Meanwhile, Cousins is the old guy among the three. Viewers will see his viewpoint from his 10th season in the league. We’re betting we’ll witness the genesis of Cousins’ viral moment, when he danced, shirtless, on the Vikings jet as the team returned from a road game.

Quarterback also focuses on Mariota’s lone season with the Falcons. Undoubtedly, it will show the good and the bad. Mariota opened the season as the starter but finished it on the bench behind rookie Desmond Ridder. In the off-season, he signed a deal with the Eagles.

Here’s how Netflix describes the new series:

“Quarterback is a first-of-its kind partnership between the NFL and Netflix, offering unprecedented access to three of the league’s top players. The nine-episode series follows quarterbacks who, for the first time ever, are mic’d up for every single game, from the beginning of the 2022 season to its conclusion. And it’s not just life on the field, either: Quarterback takes fans from inside the huddle to inside players’ homes, showing how they navigate the pressures of their professional and personal lives.”