Stampede Blue
On ‘The Kay Adams Show,‘ Indianapolis Colts unretired longtime veteran quarterback Philip Rivers recently announced *drum roll* that he’ll retire again following the close of the 2025 campaign:
With injuries to their top two starting quarterbacks, the 44-year-old Rivers shockingly came out of retirement after a pure desperation call by the Colts, despite having not played since the 2020 season in Indianapolis.
It became because of his familiarity and fondness of Colts head coach Shane Steichen, as well as his prior positive experience playing for Indianapolis during the 2020 ‘COVID-19’ campaign—which was his sole season in Indy.
While the Colts went 0-3 during Rivers’ three recent starts, he filled in admirably and played about as well as anyone could’ve reasonably expected given the extraordinary circumstances and prolonged layoff from the game.
Even with Rivers’ significantly diminished arm strength, his football IQ, pre-snap recognition, and ability to rapidly process/anticipate through his throwing reads remained about as elite as anyone who’s recently played the game at starting quarterback—both active and retired.
From a football purist perspective, it was both beautiful and incredible to watch ‘Grandpa Phil’ still quickly dissect opposing defenses and rip it out there—especially on primetime a few weeks ago.
With Rivers’ son a senior next year and also having a soon-to-be 9th grader on the team, Rivers will turn back to coaching high school football again at Saint Michael Catholic High School in Fairhope, Alabama, for 2026.
While he wished the game outcomes had been different, Rivers has publicly stated he had a blast playing again these last three weeks for the Colts. He will likely serve as their emergency QB for the regular season finale against the Houston Texans, with Indianapolis already eliminated from playoff contention.
His shocking 3-game ‘unretirement tour’ likely only helped Rivers’ arguably borderline case for becoming an eventual Pro Football Hall of Famer—even if it delayed his candidacy another five years in waiting. Recency bias and leaving on such a surprisingly positive and feel good story note should resonate very well with the NFL general public and perhaps most importantly, the Hall of Fame voters going forward.
