Getty Images

Amid talk that Peyton Manning doesn’t want the job running the Jets’ front office, an old friend and teammate says what Manning really wants is a job with the ultimate authority to run a football team.

Former Colts receiver Reggie Wayne said on NFL Network that he doesn’t believe Manning wants a job working for an NFL owner, he thinks Manning wants to be an NFL owner.

“General Manager? Absolutely not,” Wayne said. “You think Peyton Manning would give an owner an opportunity to fire him, or have a head coach back stab him and throw shade and get him fired?”

Wayne said Manning may call the shots in an NFL front office some day, but only when it’s his office.

“What I do see him doing is being an owner. I see him being an owner somewhere down the line. That’s more a Peyton Manning move,” Wayne said.

Manning has made hundreds of millions of dollars between his salary and endorsements, and has rich family members as well, but even then he would also need to find investors to come up with the money, as Wayne seems to realize.

“He has plenty of it, his dad has plenty of it, his brother has plenty of it,” Wayne said. “There would be a lot of people out there who would help supply the money.”

Wayne thinks once Manning is an owner, that’s when he’ll also be G.M.

“I think he’ll be the new, modern Jerry Jones,” Wayne said.

We’re not sure if Wayne meant that comparison as a compliment or not.