WATCH: Arch Manning has hilarious reaction to mean tweets, being called ‘nepo baby’

Arch Manning is no stranger to comments about his football lineage as the nephew of former NFL quarterbacks Peyton and Eli Manning, but he continues to take them in stride.

“Yeah, I mean, that’s fair,” he said after reading a comment calling him a “nepo baby” during an “I Got Time Today” segment for Complex (h/t On3). “I do have a lot of football in my family, so it’s a fair comment. Freedom of speech.”

He also responded to a Bronny James comparison.

“I don’t know Bronny; DM’d him once,” he said. “Seems like a great guy, so maybe that’s a compliment.”

The Bronny comparison is more likely in the same vein as the “nepo baby” comment, i.e. a suggestion that Manning’s place on Texas has more to do with his famous uncles than his own ability, much as it has been suggested that the younger James was only drafted because his father, LeBron James, wanted to play with him on the Los Angeles Lakers.

But Arch Manning—who served as Quinn Ewers’ backup for the past two seasons after being the top overall prospect in the class of 2023—more than proved his merit when called upon this past season.

In a trio of starts for the Longhorns after Ewers suffered an abdominal injury, Manning threw for 806 yards, eight touchdowns and two interceptions while rushing for 82 yards and an additional two scores.

Yes, the competition wasn’t exactly top tier, as Manning lit up UTSA, Louisiana-Monroe and a Mississippi State team that went just 2-10. But he hardly looked like a player who was only on the field because of his last name.

With Ewers headed to the draft, Manning is now the starter for the Longhorns, and expectations are high.

“Arch is a dog, man,” Manning’s former teammate at Texas, Kansas City Chiefs wideout Xavier Worthy, told reporters this week. “I expect nothing less than a Heisman. Nothing less than a Heisman.”

But Manning has acknowledged that his last name has garnered him a “lot of underserved attention,” as he told ESPN’s Marty Smith last week.

“But hopefully it gets more deserving in the next few months,” he added. “I don’t think I’ve done enough yet to be taking a lot of pictures at restaurants and signing autographs. But maybe that will come eventually.”