Stampede Blue
According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero, the Indianapolis Colts are signing 44-year-old quarterback Philip Rivers, who is coming out of retirement with his old team.
This is indeed a desperate call for a desperate measure, given that the Colts are facing a winless finish regardless of who they turn to at quarterback. The 8-5 Colts currently sit just outside of the AFC’s 7th playoff spot, with the Houston Texans serving as its placeholder thanks to a head-to-head tiebreaker over Indy. The Colts are no longer in control of their own destiny; thus, they are trying to create a destiny from thin air with such a move.
Colts Starting quarterback Daniel Jones (Achilles) is out for the season, and the primary backup, Anthony Richardson (orbital fracture), has yet to be given a timetable to return from injury.
Rookie quarterback Riley Leonard filled the void on Sunday against the Jaguars once Jones went down, but a sustained knee injury in relief muddied the waters to make the Rivers signing even possible. Had Leonard been healthy, this move wouldn’t have even been entertained. ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported that Leonard is ‘week-to-week’ with a strained knee ligament, so while there appears to be a chance that Leonard can play on Sunday, this unorthodox insurance move suggests that Leonard’s season is in jeopardy. Given that practice squad quarterback Brett Rypien only has four career starts to his name, kicking the tires on Rivers checks out.
The 44-year-old quarterback last played for the Indianapolis Colts in 2020-21 before ultimately retiring following a Wild Card loss to the Buffalo Bills. Rivers led the Colts to their last double-digit win season and playoff berth, an 11-5 showing where he put up the following numbers:
369-543 (68%), 4,169 passing yards, 24 passing touchdowns, 11 interceptions, 19 times sacked in all 16 starts
Rivers was called up on Monday, coincidentally his 44th birthday, and brought in that evening for a workout. It was a good session where he “threw the ball well,” according to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler. Just how well, that remains to be seen.
He had been coaching high school football at St. Michael Catholic High School in Fairhope, Alabama, since retiring after the 2020 season. His team just wrapped up their season, the #2-ranked team in 4A Region 1, finishing 13-1 after being eliminated in the third round of the Alabama 4A Playoffs.
The latest seat on the Colts’ well-documented quarterback carousel under general manager Chris Ballard would ironically go to one of its founding members, as Rivers was the regime’s fourth starting quarterback at that point.
The Colts reuniting with Rivers has multiple familiarities, given his latest playing ties with the franchise and some of its remaining players (i.e., Quenton Nelson, Michael Pittman Jr., and DeForest Buckner, to name a few), as well as playing under then-QBs Coach and 2019-20 interim OC Shane Steichen during their time with the Chargers from 2014-2019.
A reunion with Rivers was entertained late in the 2021-22 season after...
