Irsay doesn’t deserve Manning to be Colt. He broke all those records as a Bronco. Elway was willing to build a team around him. Irsay not so much.
Irsay built a team around him for over a decade. After the neck surgery season Irsay was also smart enough to know it was time for a change, they needed to build for the future. Meanwhile Denver was in disarray and took a shot, and Elway didn’t really build a team around him until they got killed in the SB. But Elway probably isn’t going to keep Manning if he decides to stay, they need to build for the future, most of that defense is hitting free agency, and the team has better things to spend $19 million on than a QB who hands the ball off 2/3 of the time.