Peyton Manning a great coach but would struggle coaching; David Cutcliffe reveals why

Peyton Manning has a deep understanding of the game and is elite when it comes to coaching players. However, he would struggle coaching. That’s a paradox that Manning’s offensive coordinator at Tennessee football, David Cutcliffe, was able to break down.

Cutcliffe went on Outkick 360 earlier this week and revealed a discussion he had with late wide receiver Demaryius Thomas, Manning’s go-to receiver his first three years with the Denver Broncos. Thomas said Manning was the best receivers coach he ever had, according to him.

After that, Cutcliffe elaborated on the importance of receivers and quarterbacks being on the same page and how much his protege understood. However, he still revealed why the great Peyton Manning would struggle coaching: impatience and frustration. Here’s the clip of what he said.

This is the hard truth of the matter. Manning, for all of his greatness, makes other players better because of how much he demands out of them. However, it also leads to a level of impatience that isn’t fit for somebody who is the head coach of a program or a general manager.

A great example of this is Michael Jordan. As a player, Jordan’s demands made everybody else around him better, even turning Scottie Pippen into a superstar in his own right. However, that mentality has made him an awful GM as owner of the Charlotte Hornets.

When you’re a teammate, you can simply demand perfection and push everybody else as hard as you can. However, as a head coach, you have to meet players where they are at and figure out how to motivate them in the best way. GMs have to accept players’ ceilings.

None of this works for most of the greats. Peyton Manning is a legend and has a track record of making everybody around him better. Cutcliffe, though, was right. There’s a reason Cutcliffe is the one coach he listened to throughout his prime, and this further proved it.