Hanging outside John Elway’s office is a large, custom painting made from a pair of photographs. In the background is Elway, in his orange No. 7 Broncos jersey, scanning the field as he drops back to pass. In the foreground is Peyton Manning, in his orange No. 18, already in mid-throw.

From 1983-99, Elway was the face and the leader of the Broncos’ offense that appeared in five Super Bowls and won two. From 2012-16, after a whirlwind free agency and recovery from four neck surgeries, Manning led the charge, supplanting fan-favorite Tim Tebow to guide the Broncos to two more Super Bowl appearances and a third title.

The quarterbacks will be forever linked and stand together in one of the many keepsakes scattered throughout the team’s UCHealth Training Center.

Elway sat down with The Denver Post last week to reflect on his time in the front office and his hopes for his current team. He also opened up about those few weeks in March 2012, when Manning’s free-agency tour ended with a $96 million deal with the Broncos.

As detailed by Sports Illustrated’s Peter King, Denver was among a handful of teams to become contenders in the Manning sweepstakes, but it was up against others with deeper ties to the quarterback. The Titans could offer him a return to Tennessee and a chance to work with head coach Mike Munchak, Archie Manning’s former teammate in Houston. The Cardinals had head coach Ken Whisenhunt, Peyton’s golfing buddy and coach in a Pro Bowl. And the 49ers had head coach Jim Harbaugh, the Colts’ quarterback before Peyton.

Elway believed all along the Broncos could win Manning over — if they played their cards right.

“Yeah, I did. Just because I thought of what we could do. I knew the town (Denver), but I also knew what we could do offensively for him,” Elway said. “We would be very flexible with what he wanted to do and try to blend what we were doing compared to what he was used to. A lot of it, the city and everything, is a lot like Indianapolis. And I had met him before. It was a matter of whether he’d go somewhere else where he had a great relationship. We knew if we put our best foot forward, we’d be in the hunt.”

The rest was history.

“Obviously we won a ton of football games with him,” Elway said. “He has that persona, he’s got that leadership quality, he brings the star power, he brings the excitement to the team. And he was a guy that had a chip on his shoulder when we got him because he wanted to prove that he could come back and still play. Indianapolis had to make a decision and it was not the one that he wanted. I’m sure he would have much rather have stayed in Indy. But they got the first pick in the draft and they’re staring at Andrew Luck. It’s a tough spot. It was fortunate for us that we were able to talk him into coming here. With what (Mike) McCoy did for the year that he was here with him, and with what Adam Gase did with him — he made everybody better. Both of them are head coaches now. And a lot of that has to do with the knowledge they got from Peyton and being around Peyton and seeing how he worked. Peyton was a huge part of what we did. To have him and see the way he worked — we were very lucky to have him for those four years.”

This past March, after 18 seasons, Manning announced his retirement from the NFL. He, like Elway, rode off into the sunset after winning his second Super Bowl. While mulling his second career, Manning spoke to Elway about the transition.

“He asked me about that and he said he was going to take a year off,” Elway said. “We played some golf and he said he was going to take a year off. I thought it was a great idea, to enjoy things a little bit, don’t hurry back into something. Step back a little bit and figure out what he wants to do, because he’s going to be able to do what he wants to do. He’s been doing this for a long time, so for him to be able to sit back and relax.”

Joining an NFL front office could be among Manning’s options. But so could pretty much anything else.

“I’ll be curious to see what he wants to do,” Elway said. “You have to want to do it. It’s a totally different game than being a player because you’re behind the scenes, which I like. But it’s a matter of where he wants to be and if he’s going to enjoy it or not. He’s a little bit of a control freak, and a lot of times you can’t control a lot of things that go on. You can control who’s going out there, but you can’t control anything else. So whether he gets too frustrated with that, I don’t know. It’ll be interesting to see how he handles that. I’m sure if he decides to go that way, he’ll be just fine.”