Peyton Manning has been fairly quiet in the months since he retired, but there was no way he was missing one of the biggest perks of winning a Super Bowl: a trip to the White House.
Manning and most of his 2015 Denver Broncos teammates flew to Washington, D.C. on Monday to meet President Barack Obama. Many others who aren't on the Broncos roster anymore, like tight end Owen Daniels, defensive end Malik Jackson and offensive tackle Ryan Clady, made the trip too.
Obama made an obligatory "Omaha!" joke to start, talked up the Broncos defense, singled out Von Miller and DeMarcus Ware, and made a joke about the sometimes punchless offense by mentioning "the heart and soul of this team's offensive firepower, kicker Brandon McManus."
And Obama saved some of his best jokes for the Broncos' retired quarterback.
"Then there's this guy from the commercials," Obama said. "Doesn't matter if you needed insurance, pizza, a Buick. You basically can stack your whole household with stuff this guy is selling. You know where to turn, it's Peyton Manning."
Obama then talked about Manning's accomplishments and said it was good to see Manning go out on top.
"Anybody who has been a football fan has watched one of the greatest Hall-of-Fame careers ever," Obama said, before turning to shake Manning's hand.
The Broncos presented Obama with a Broncos jersey and a signed helmet.
Not all of the 2015 Broncos were there. Cornerback Aqib Talib didn't attend after being shot in the leg over the weekend. Quarterback Brock Osweiler, now with the Houston Texans, decided it was more important to practice Monday with the team that gave him a $72 million contract this offseason. Makes sense.
"If there was no OTA today I would have gone to the White House," Osweiler told the Houston media. "It would have been a tremendous experience."
A few others didn't show. Guard Evan Mathis also was with his new team, the Arizona Cardinals, and guard Louis Vasquez was having a child, NFL Network's James Palmer reported.
But the rest of the team had a blast, it seems. Here are some of the better photos on Twitter from the trip:
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"This is a well-deserved celebration of an extraordinary season." - @POTUS pic.twitter.com/RNl5o9zKBq
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