If you happened to be walking a dog past a Castle Rock park early this past Saturday morning and thought, “Gee, that guy throwing the football looks a lot like Peyton Manning,” your eyes did not deceive.

That was none other than Peyton Manning throwing passes to his former teammate Brandon Stokley in a small Castle Rock park. From about 8:30 to 9:30 on just another gorgeous morning in Colorado, Manning threw about 50 passes to the route-running Stokley. Like Manning, Stokley is a free agent.

“I saw him for three days at Duke and he was the only quarterback (throwing to four or five receivers) and he threw a ton of balls for three straight practices and the guy looked to me like he did when I was there six years ago,” said Stokley, the former Broncos receiver who was Manning’s teammate with the Indianapolis Colts from 2003-06. “He threw on Saturday here on a little field and maybe because he had some rest, I think he looked better than he had last week.”

Between a plane ride from Stillwater, Okla., to Centennial Airport, a six-hour meeting at the team’s Dove Valley headquarters and a 2 1/2 -hour dinner at Cherry Hills Country Club, Manning spent all day Friday visiting with the Broncos. He spent the night at Stokley’s home, in part because he wanted to both rest and get a work-out in. Stokley drove him to the Centennial Airport for a 5 p.m. flight Saturday to Arizona and a meeting with the Cardinals.

Manning is now back at his offseason residence in the Miami area.

The Broncos and other teams who are pursuing the free-agent Manning have received some criticism for trying to lure him without watching him work out. But Manning’s five-day workout at Duke was filmed, and distributed to teams upon his release last Wednesday by the Colts.

Manning missed all of last season because of complications from multiple neck surgeries. The Colts are planning on replacing Manning by using their No. 1 overall draft pick on quarterback Andrew Luck.

“People who say the Broncos are crazy for not watching his balls fly, or what are they doing? those people are dead wrong,” Stokley said. “I’ll put whatever reputation I have on the line behind that guy right now. He looks great.”

Mike Klis: 303-954-1055 or mklis@denverpost.com