Come decision time, with the Colts 3-7 and going nowhere, they'll put him on IR. He won't play this year and might be done for good.
That's what I said. If the Colts are something like 2-9 when Manning is actually ready to come back, they probably won't even bother activating him. What would be the point? They'll just wait, play it safe and reset to 2012. Unless...
A close friend of mine is a case project manager at an Osteo-Spinal medical device division here in L.A. I defer to his expertise on the subject, and his words to me today were based on knowledge of the specific area of the neck and dozens of similar cases: "He will have a very excellent prognosis going forward of resuming a normal non-athletic life. But as far as sports goes, he's kidding himself if he doesnt think his career is now over."
On a side note, imagine if the Colts somehow land Andrew Luck after all this to pick up where Manning leaves off...