Stampede Blue
According to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler, longtime since retired 44-year-old veteran quarterback Philip Rivers actually worked out for the suddenly desperate Indianapolis Colts on Monday—and reportedly ‘threw well’:
Further, per ESPN’s Pat McAfee, following his shocking, yet impressive workout last night “all indications are that Rivers will be announced as the Colts quarterback at some point today”:
Obviously, things have been moving blazing fast in Indianapolis over the last 72 hours.
Having lost starting quarterback Daniel Jones to a season-ending torn Achilles and seen rookie 3rd-string quarterback Riley Leonard’s status (with 2nd-stringer Anthony Richardson already unavailable) for this weekend’s road game against the Seattle Seahawks in question with a strained knee ligament, the Colts are clearly desperate at the league’s most important position—and are calling for unprecedented drastic measures.
Per SI.com’s Albert Breer, Rivers has reportedly still kept himself in good shape, coaching high school football and having thrown with NFL and collegiate quarterbacks—including the Colts very own Riley Leonard. Still, being in good civilian shape at age 44 isn’t nearly the same as a professional athlete requires, when you’ve got 300 pound defensive linemen chasing you at full speed.
That being said, the Colts do not exactly have much to lose here—if Rivers is willing to give it a final ride.
Even at age 44, he’s better than anyone that would realistically be available at this late stage of the season, unless the Cincinnati Bengals are planning to release veteran Joe Flacco anytime soon—although the latter wasn’t exactly awesome in Indianapolis last season either in relief of Richardson. I’d arguably rather have Rivers.
Rivers knows the offense and playbook, having played under current Colts head coach Shane Steichen, then as a quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator, when both were members of the Chargers organization. He also knows some of his former teammates, such as Jonathan Taylor, Michael Pittman Jr., Quenton Nelson, and Braden Smith, all of whom played with him during his final NFL season which was back with the Colts in 2020.
At age 44-years-old, Rivers is a statue in the pocket and likely has lost some zip on his fastball—having already shown some diminished arm strength 5 years ago in 2020. That being said, the Colts apparently liked what they saw with him throwing on Monday night. He’s still likely very accurate, can progress through his reads, and get rid of the football fast when needed, understanding opposing defensive play-calls and his own pass protections.
With no first round pick in 2026 and sitting at 8-5, still very well in the AFC playoff hunt, what exactly do the Colts have to lose here?
The entertainment value alone with Rivers returning should make this otherwise snowballing season at least interesting down the final stretch—and dare I say, provide some daggun’ hope and fun:
