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Football players can be funny! 5 NFL quarterbacks with serious comedy chops

These gridiron stars might just Bowl you over with their hilarity. (Get it?)
/ Source: TODAY

Pro quarterbacks know that when it comes to game-winning touchdowns, timing is everything, but some football stars are better than others when that timing applies to comedy.

With NBC kicking off the 2015-16 NFL season Thursday night, TODAY.com took a closer look at five current quarterbacks who are almost as good at getting a laugh as they are at completing a pass.

1. Peyton Manning, Denver Broncos

Peyton Manning may be the MVP of comedy among current QBs. In addition to appearing in countless amusing commercials, Manning established himself as a comedy all-star as host of "Saturday Night Live" in 2007. During that episode, the affable Pro Bowler is seen taunting kids in a parody of a United Way public-service announcement. That sketch isn't just funny-for-an-athlete funny, it's one of the greatest "SNL" Digital Shorts of all time.

2. Eli Manning, New York Giants

Just like his big brother Peyton, Eli Manning showed a flair for the funny as an "SNL" host in 2012. More recently, his portrayal of alter ego Bad Comedian Eli Manning in a new DirecTV ad campaign is earning laughs (for the right reasons).

3. Tony Romo, Dallas Cowboys

Romo, too, has made viewers laugh in that same DirecTV campaign, in which he plays alongside the "Arty & Craftsy" version of himself. Previously, he took a self-effacing approach to comedy in a Pepsi Max ad that shows him being pounded to the turf after a bungled play call.

4. Tom Brady, New England Patriots

Hosting "SNL" in 2005, the four-time Super Bowl champ made the most of his opportunity in sketches like "Tom Brady's Falafel City," and became increasingly (and amusingly) angrier in a 2012 Funny Or Die video about the Boston accent. Almost 10 years after playing himself in a 2006 episode of "Family Guy," he played the same role in another Seth MacFarlane project: the movie comedy "Ted 2." And last week, Brady had the last laugh when his four-game suspension was dismissed in court.

5. Aaron Rodgers, Green Bay Packers

For at least one current NFL quarterback who has not (yet) visited Studio 8H to host "SNL," the show, in a way, comes to him. A longtime spokesman for State Farm's "Discount Double-Check" campaign, Aaron Rodgers recently amused audiences in commercials featuring "SNL" characters Hans (Kevin Nealon) and Frans (Dana Carvey). In addition to making a hilarious cameo on Comedy Central's "Key & Peele," Rodgers proved he could be funny on his own — or at least with the help of his girlfriend, Olivia Munn, on Instagram — with some interpretive dance moves to Mariah Carey's "Hero."

Follow TODAY.com writer Chris Serico on Twitter.