Peyton Manning dons robe, stars alongside Lionel Richie in new DirecTV ads

After 18 years as a professional football player, Peyton Manning is retired, and that means trading pads and playbooks for slippers and bathrobes.

That’s the premise behind a series of DirecTV ads in which Peyton copes with football-devoid Sundays by sitting in a park, going grocery shopping, bugging his brother and, obviously, talking about DirecTV. The campaign comes with a theme song, with Lionel Richie spoofing himself by crooning, “It’s Peyton on Sunday moooorning.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WsKUpA75qA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGHw7KwrTnc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nWHoEltGl8

Are we supposed to infer from these ads that Peyton is Favreing it up and itching to get back on the field? Hey, the Broncos might start a guy who threw almost as many interceptions as touchdowns in his college college career, so maybe they’d be open to a comeback.

Barring an unlikely return to the gridiron, Peyton will of course have to fill his time somehow. There has long been speculation about Manning joining CBS, ESPN or another network as an analyst, though he’s reportedly not ready to go down that path quite yet.

So while DirecTV’s version of Peyton uses Sunday Ticket to occupy time in retirement, real-life Peyton is apparently easing into post-football life by maintaining one aspect of his previous livelihood: endorsements and commercial appearances.

So if you thought Peyton’s retirement meant he would no longer be in half the commercials on your TV every Sunday, it appears you were mistaken.

[FTW]