Peyton Manning retiring as best Fantasy Football QB ever

Peyton Manning is retiring Monday, and he will leave the NFL as the best Fantasy Football quarterback ever. Jamey Eisenberg looks at Manning's career and what's next for the Broncos.

The official announcement will come Monday, just weeks after the Broncos beat the Panthers 24-10 to win Super Bowl 50. Peyton Manning is retiring from the NFL after 18 seasons, five MVP awards and two Super Bowl trophies.

He also goes down as the best Fantasy quarterback of all time.

That statement will likely anger some of you Fantasy Football historians -- and plenty of Tom Brady supporters. But the numbers over his career tell the story of the best Fantasy quarterback ever, and don't let his performance from 2015 sway you when he was a shell of his former self at 39, with his body breaking down.

Manning ends his career as the NFL's all-time leader in touchdowns (539) and passing yards (71,940). He also has an NFL-record 200 wins, including the postseason, but those stats never really mattered to Fantasy owners.

What has always been important to us is the eye-popping numbers Manning posted on a weekly and yearly basis in the regular season. Since 2000, Manning has been a Top 5 Fantasy quarterback in standard leagues 13 times in 16 seasons, which includes 2011 when he sat out following neck surgery. He was the No. 1 Fantasy quarterback four times over that span in 2003, 2004, 2006 and 2013.

Manning has the most 4,000-yard seasons in NFL history with 14 (Drew Brees is second with 10 and Brady has eight). By comparison, Brett Favre and Dan Marino only had six 4,000-yard campaigns.

Now, Manning only has one season with 5,000 passing yards, which was 2013, and Brees has done that four times. But Brees (37) and Brady (38) aren't likely to catch Manning's overall stats.

Brees has 60,903 career passing yards and 428 touchdowns, and Brady is at 58,028 yards and 428 touchdowns. Brees has been a top-five Fantasy quarterback eight times since 2001, and he was No. 1 in 2008 and 2012. And Brady has been a top-five 5 quarterback six times since 2000 and No. 1 in 2007 and 2010.

Someone will eventually break Manning's records -- it happens all the time. Manning moved past Favre, and Favre knocked off Marino. With the way teams are throwing the ball, we might see quarterback stats unlike ever before 10 years from now. And a combo threat at quarterback like Cam Newton could eventually become the best Fantasy quarterback of all time when his career is over.

We know the Broncos won't replace Manning with someone of his pedigree, and Brock Osweiler is the most likely heir apparent. But it's not a slam dunk for Osweiler to become Denver's starter in 2016 because he's a free agent, and the Texans are expected to be at least one potential suitor.

We'll see what the Broncos do to replace Manning, but we'll analyze their roster with the thought Osweiler is taking over. He started seven games in 2016 when Manning was out with a foot injury, and he finished the season with 1,967 passing yards, 10 touchdowns and six interceptions. He had only two games with more than 20 Fantasy points and four starts with 15 points or less.

Osweiler is just a No. 2 Fantasy quarterback with the Broncos. And Demaryius Thomas and Emmanuel Sanders take a hit in Fantasy value with Osweiler.

Thomas played six full games with Osweiler in 2015, and he had no 100-yard games and four touchdowns. He averaged 9.3 Fantasy points in a standard league with Osweiler, which doesn't inspire much confidence, even in a small sample size.

Sanders only played five full games with Osweiler, but he had two games with more than 100 yards and scored two touchdowns. He also had two games with fewer than 20 yards, and he averaged 9.8 Fantasy points in a standard league.

Both receivers should be considered No. 2 Fantasy receivers, with Thomas worth drafting in Round 3 and Sanders going in Round 5. Osweiler should not be drafted in most formats, and this offense will again be run heavy as we saw in 2015 under coach Gary Kubiak, which bodes well for C.J. Anderson. He should be considered a solid No. 2 running back worth drafting in Round 4 since he closed the season strong following a slow start.

The Broncos offense will look different with Manning now retired, and the NFL will definitely miss him as well. Fantasy owners benefited greatly from Manning during the past two decades, and he leaves the game as the best Fantasy quarterback we've ever put in our lineups.