When Philip Rivers retired after 17 seasons as an NFL quarterback, the former Athens High School star thought he “had something left in the tank.”

Five years later, Rivers will find out if he still does. The 44-year-old practiced with the Indianapolis Colts on Wednesday as they prepare to play the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday.

The Colts lost starting quarterback Daniel Jones to an Achilles-tendon injury in Sunday’s 36-19 defeat by the Jacksonville Jaguars, and former Fairhope High School star Riley Leonard played the final three quarters of the contest under center for Indianapolis. The rookie sustained a knee injury against Jacksonville, although Leonard did practice on Wednesday.

The injury situation caused the Colts to call Rivers, whose previous final season in 2020 had come with Indianapolis after 16 seasons with the San Diego/Los Angeles Chargers. With the Chargers, current Colts head coach Shane Steichen worked with Rivers for six seasons as an offensive assistant.

“As simple as can be,” Rivers said of his decision, “is a coach that I love and an organization that I really enjoyed being with — you know, Mr. Irsay believing in me in that year in 2020 when it didn’t go so good in in 2019 – and, shoot, the teammates that I was able to play with — shoot, 14 of them are still here. Training room’s the same, PR guys are the same, equipment room’s the same. And they wanted me, and I try to keep it as simple as that.

“You know, a game I love to play, a game that I thought I was done playing certainly. I wasn’t really hanging on any hope of playing again. I kind of thought that ship had sailed. But something about it excited me, and it’s kind of one of those deals. The door opens and you can either walk through it and find out if you can do it or run from it. And I know that there’s risk involved, obviously, of what may or may not happen, but the only way to find out is going for it.

“And I just felt almost like it was a gift, another opportunity to play and cut it loose with your guys and the game you love to play and the dream that you got to live. You may get some bonus time. So I really kept it as simple as that in my mind, and here I stand. I had not given any thought of actually playing again until about 48 hours ago.”

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Rivers worked out for the Colts on Monday and signed with the Indianapolis practice squad on Tuesday.

“It’s been a whirlwind of 48 hours, I’ll say,” Rivers said. “But each moment that goes by, I feel more and more confident. I really do. I think for me the decision wasn’t easy, and because of all the things that you all can imagine. There’s human nature to have a little doubt, and I think for me working through that was, well, that’s normal. That’s normal to have a little doubt. Who wouldn’t have doubt after five years? But is that doubt real or not? It’s like, well, like I go back to our first answer, the only way you can find out is to go.”

When Rivers seemingly completed his career after the 2020 season, he had a streak of 252 consecutive starts going and had thrown for 4,169 yards and 24 touchdowns in 16 regular-season games.

“I didn’t walk away because I felt like I was done,” Rivers said. “It was just the time to be done for my family, and I believe that still to have been true because it’s been a great five years.”

Rivers spent the intervening five seasons as the head football coach for St. Michael Catholic High School in Fairhope. Rivers and his wife have 10 children, and he said his family supported his decision.

“My wife’s been my biggest fan the whole time I’ve played,” Rivers said, “and she’s nervous about the physical aspect of it, as you would expect any wife to. But, shoot, I mean, for 250 games, or whatever it was, that was a risk, as you see every week, whether you’re 24 and in the best shape of your life or whether you’re 44 and not so sure. You know, anything can happen. So that has never been a concern of mine. You never hope something like that, really, or expect something like that to happen. But, shoot, something like that happens, I got a long time to recover. …

“I think my younger children are most excited. I shouldn’t say most excited. They’re excited because they don’t remember dad playing. You know, my 6-year-old actually asked me, like, four months ago, like, ‘Dad, why don’t you play anymore?’ And I’m like, ‘I’m sorry. Best you’re going to get is me coaching on the sideline,’ you know, because they were seeing highlights or they’re pulling up some old games. My boys are fired up, obviously, but I think share the same sentiment, a little nervous like, ‘Dad, you think you can do it?’ And then my older girls are real excited because they’re a little bit confused. They’re like, ‘Shoot, I was 12,’ now all of a sudden they’re grown adults, married and they remember being 16 years old going to the ball game.”

Rivers said while he’s taking a one-day-at-a-time approach, he’s preparing as if he will start Sunday’s game.

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“If that’s where it goes, I’ll be ready to go,” Rivers said. “… I’m not here to try to save the day. I’m going to know where I’m limited, and as we go, it will get better if that’s the route that we end up going. But again, full confidence in Shane and (general manager) Chris (Ballard) and the organization in making those decisions as we move forward each and every day.”

The 6-foot-5 Rivers had a 228-pound playing weight. As he returns to football, he said that would be different.

“Not what it was when I walked off the field in Buffalo,” Rivers said about his weight at his most recent game – Indianapolis’ 27-24 playoff loss to the Buffalo Bills on Jan. 9, 2021. “All right. I can tell you that. But then I follow that up with I ain’t never ran away from anybody anyway, so people say, ‘Well, they’re going to know you’re going to be right there.’ And it’s, like, well, they knew that for 16, 17 years.”