While wearing the Bengals' old school No. 14 jersey symbolizing passing efficiency and offensive wizardry, first-ballot Hall of Fame quarterback Peyton Manning couldn't say enough about the current Bengals quarterback who is giving No. 9 an iconic turn.

"He's an incredible quarterback. He's just fun to watch play. He's exciting when the ball is in his hands," Manning is saying of Joe Burrow. "The game is never over.

"He's calm, he's collected, he doesn't sweat. Out there on the field, off the field … he's very authentic."

If anyone knows how real, it's Manning, standing in the visitors' locker room last week at Paycor Stadium. He just got through supervising the Netflix documentary Quarterback that dissects the position through the lens of Burrow, Jared Goff and Kirk Cousins during last season.

It drops in July. If it wasn't for Manning, Burrow wouldn't have had Netflix anywhere near his down-field progressions for the completion of the project.

"He's going to protect me, protect our team, protect our organization," Burrow said last month. "I have trust in him for saying that and trust that he's going to do that. I probably wouldn't have done it if he wasn't involved, but I have a lot of trust and faith in him to not do anything that would hurt me or the team."

The feeling is now mutual.

"We appreciate him letting us do it, letting us kind of go behind the ropes and sort of capture how he goes about his business," Manning says. "He's going to come across as the cool guy that he is.

"There's a trust factor. I know the season didn't go the way they all wanted it to go. And Joe probably has an MVP-type season if they get in the playoffs and make a few more stops. He was a great teammate all season, and the competitor that he is, so I'm glad that he did it. It's a great keepsake for him to have the rest of his life."

Manning knows something about keepsakes, too, as the voice, face, and conscience of "Peyton's Places," the documentary series he hosts on ESPN+ that examines the fabric of football past and present.

That's why he's here wearing a vintage Bengals' No. 14 on the Paycor turf with a battalion of cameras and producers following his every move.

Manning says get used to the Cincinnati skyline because in this season's "Places," which debuts in November, he's got three of his 10 episodes with ties to the Bengals looking at the evolution of the quarterback as a play-caller, the rise of tall receivers, and a look at how Bengals founder Paul Brown's Taxi Squad morphed into today's practice squad.

One of Burrow's greatest moments inspired Manning to document how play-calling has changed. He sifted through tape of Burrow leading the Bengals to a 2021 AFC Divisional win in Tennessee despite being unable to hear the calls through his helmet during a patch of the game.

"It's a great modern way to go back and look at the whole history of coaches calling the plays vs. quarterbacks calling the plays," says producer Neil Zender. "That takes you to Paul Brown."

It also takes you on a full-circle moment around Paycor.

"We're doing a lot on Paul Brown and his impact on the game of football," Manning says. "He put in the (first) coach-to-quarterback communication. And there's great, great history here with the Cincinnati Bengals. We talked to Boomer Esiason earlier this year. Just got finished with Cris Collinsworth. The Bengals are heavily featured in season five of Peyton's Places."

No. 14 is best known here for four-time NFL passing champion Ken Anderson, the Bengals' all-time leading passer, an MVP, a Man of the Year and lead architect of the West Coast offense.

Manning now knows the man who wore 14 before Anderson is Sam Wyche, the late Bengals head coach known as the genius who created the no-huddle offense that Manning later ran to perfection for the turn-of-the-century Colts. Paul Brown hired him, in part, because he never forgot how precise Wyche's playbooks were when he served as his quarterback, and Wyche rewarded him with a Super Bowl season.

Esiason earned his spot in the Bengals Ring of Honor as the chief engineer of Wyche's lethal fast-break scheme that relied on the just as quick-thinking of his quarterbacks at the line of scrimmage.

Without Wyche and Esiason, "Omaha," is simply the hometown of baseball great Bob Gibson and not also the Nebraska city Manning made famous at the line of scrimmage that was code for changing the play.

Manning recently sat down with Esiason to watch those Bengals' tapes for the episode exploring how play-calling has changed for quarterbacks down through the eras, and they also look at some of the most memorable plays called by quarterbacks in NFL history.

"When I got to Indianapolis, I studied film of Boomer Esiason and his play fakes," Manning says. "Sam was an innovator, and Boomer talked about that and the trust that he would give Boomer at the line of scrimmage, which is a lot of what (Colts offensive coordinator) Tom Moore gave to me. A fun offense to play in, for sure."

And, for sure, Manning sees Burrow in that same mold of leader.

"The list goes on and on with all the good things the way he plays it," Manning says. "He studies it. He's a great athlete, but he appreciates the cerebral part of the game. He's a drop-back quarterback first, and when things aren't going well, he can break out and make things happen with his legs. He can do it all. Like I said, the game's never over."

Manning says one of the benefits of the Quarterback series is watching three different men approach the position in three unique ways. Asked what stands out about Burrow, Manning says, "He's guarded, which I get and I respect. Yet you can tell his teammates love playing for him. They play hard for him, which I think is a great compliment to him. And he's just very comfortable in his own skin, which I think is a great quality as well."

Manning believes Burrow is close to adding the biggest skin of all on his wall.

"There are expectations that come with it, but Joe is well aware of those, and he can carry that burden and wants those expectations on his shoulders," Manning says. "And I know he fully expects, as I do as well, to bring a championship here to Cincinnati."

Manning, who on this day traded in No. 18 for No. 14, is dressed to the Nines.

"I fully expect them to be in contention in the AFC every year. It's tough. The division is extremely tough," Manning says. "Nobody's going to just lay down and let you have it. You've got to go and get it. I know he's capable of doing that, and I look forward to watching him in his journey."