EA Sports has named five new players to their Madden NFL 25 Ring of Honor, and one of the best Indianapolis Colts players of all time was one of them: none other than the legendary Peyton Manning.
ESPN reported the latest class of honorees, with five athletes added to the game's virtual Hall of Fame each time a new version of Madden is released. Players chosen should be athletes who "transcended the sport to become part of football's cultural fabric." Altogether, the five athletes included in the 2025 class are:
- Peyton Manning
- Ray Lewis
- Marshawn Lynch
- Joe Thomas
- Sean Taylor
In the press release, EA Sports had high praise for for Manning's career. "Manning revolutionized Madden's quarterback play with his strategic football IQ, realistic passing, and audible systems, setting a new standard for offensive gameplay precision," they wrote. "Manning earned Pro Bowl honors 14 times (1999-2000, 2002-2010, 2012-14), was named the Associated Press NFL Most Valuable Player five times (2003-2004, 2008-09, 2013), Associated Press first-team All-Pro at quarterback seven times (2003-05, 2008-09, 2012-13) and was selected to the NFL’s All-Decade Team of the 2000s."
Peyton Manning. Madden NFL Ring of Honor Class of 2025.#Madden25 | @Colts pic.twitter.com/xCY2O8PwfQ
— Madden NFL 25 (@EAMaddenNFL) March 19, 2025
Manning is widely considered to be one of the best quarterbacks of all time, often referenced in comparison to Tom Brady. He retired in 2016, and at the time, had an emotional statement about his time in the NFL. "[E]very moment, every drop of sweat, every bleary-eyed night of preparation, every note I took and every frame of film I watched was about one thing, reverence for this game," he said. "When I look back on my NFL career, I’ll know without a doubt that I gave everything I had to help my teams walk away with a win. There were other players who were more talented but there was no one could out-prepare me and because of that I have no regrets."
After retirement, Manning transitioned to TV, founding Omaha Productions, and launching ESPN's "ManningCast" to provide analysis and commentary during football season. He's also a professor of practice in the College of Communication and Information at the University of Tennessee.
Ray Lewis, also inducted into the Ring of Honor alongside Manning, said in previous interviews that he felt Manning should be known as the G.O.A.T., not Brady.
"I would say from a quarterback... from a student level of the game, he made me alter my game. He made me watch more film and that's what I call the greatest quarterback, to me, me and his battle. Brady, of course, rings, but when you talk about just walking out there and seeing a man knowing that whoo, here we go again, Peyton Manning was rough."