For the second time in franchise history, the Colts are turning to Philip Rivers for stability at quarterback.
Indianapolis is signing Rivers to the practice squad, a league source confirmed to IndyStar on Tuesday, one day after the Chargers legend turned 44 and five years after he spent his final season leading the Colts to the playoffs, the franchise’s last postseason appearance.
The move is a shot in the dark, but the situation is dire in Indianapolis.
Indianapolis, at 8-5, has a chance to break its playoff drought, but the team’s chances dropped precipitously in the franchise’s latest loss at Jacksonville on Sunday, and only a little because the Colts fell 36-19.
Starting quarterback Daniel Jones suffered a torn Achilles tendon early in the game, and backup Riley Leonard — only in the No. 2 role because backup quarterback Anthony Richardson is on injured reserve — emerged from his first extended action with a knee injury that didn’t fully reveal itself until Monday morning.
Few NFL teams can withstand the loss of their starting quarterback.
The Colts lost their top three in early December, a date so late on the NFL calendar that almost all of the available options are already playing elsewhere. Indianapolis could try to pry a quarterback off a practice squad, but any practice-squad quarterback is already in a No. 3 role for a reason, and a player can choose to stay with his current team.
For example, former Colts backup Sam Ehlinger reportedly turned down two offers from other teams to join their 53-man roster after he was cut in August, according to ESPN, preferring to stay in Denver. It is not known if Indianapolis tried to get Ehlinger back at any point this season, either after Richardson was injured in October or during the decision-making process that led to Rivers this week.
With all three quarterbacks out and only veteran Brett Rypien on the practice squad, Indianapolis decided to break the glass in case of emergency, calling Rivers a little more than a week after the high school football team he coaches in Fairhope, Ala., lost to Jackson in a state semifinal.
Five years after he last played in the NFL, it’s anybody’s guess how Rivers will play if given the opportunity.
The Colts ultimately decided he was better than any other option available and convinced Rivers to come back.
Rivers remains close with Indianapolis head coach Shane Steichen, a friend and confidant from their Chargers days, and he made a strong impression on the Colts in the one season he spent in Indianapolis.
Rivers turned in the best season of any Colts starting quarterback since Andrew Luck in 2020, completing 68% of his passes for 4,169 yards, 24 touchdowns, 11 interceptions, 7.7 yards per attempt and a 97.0 quarterback rating while leading Indianapolis to an 11-5 record and a playoff berth.
Former Colts head coach Frank Reich publicly said he wanted Rivers back for a second season in Indianapolis after the team’s 27-24 loss to Buffalo in the wild card round. Rivers initially wasn’t sure, and although general manager Chris Ballard told the then-39-year-old that both sides should take a month to decide, Rivers retired a couple of weeks later.
Rivers always wanted to coach his sons in high school, the same way his father coached him at Athens High in Alabama. A father of 10, Rivers has three sons, and the oldest, Gunner, is now a four-star prospect in the class of 2027, Rivers’ quarterback at St. Michael Catholic
But he kept the possibility of playing in the NFL alive. While committed to St. Michael Catholic, Rivers has talked to teams about playing in an emergency capacity before; San Francisco coach Kyle Shanahan has acknowledged that Rivers would have quarterbacked the 49ers in the Super Bowl in 2023 if they had somehow beaten the Eagles in the NFC Championship Game despite every quarterback on the roster dealing with injury.
Indianapolis is in that position now.
Leonard, the team’s first choice to start with Jones and Richardson unavailable, is dealing with a right knee injury, and it was unclear early in the week if the rookie would be available against Seattle this weekend.
Rivers has already been a mentor to Leonard. Leonard trained with Rivers in Fairhope, Ala., before playing the 2024 season with Notre Dame and again before the NFL Draft last summer, and the two have a strong bond, a lot like the one Rivers has formed with Steichen and the rest of the Colts front office.
If Leonard cannot go on Sunday, Rivers is an option to start against a Seahawks defense that ranks in the top 10 in almost every major category, although Rypien is another option.
Presumably, Rivers wouldn’t have come out of retirement — and potentially delayed his Hall of Fame candidacy; he was eligible for the first time in 2025 — to sit.
But one of his former teams, and one of his best friends, needed help, and Rivers decided he could answer the call.
The Colts believe Rivers is better than any of the other limited options they had available.
Joel A. Erickson and Nathan Brown cover the Colts all season. Get more coverage on IndyStarTV and with the Colts Insider newsletter.