In the heat of the 2023 NFL season, an AFC team with a chance at the playoffs faced a dilemma. The club’s starting quarterback was out for the year with a fractured shoulder. The remaining quarterback room was shallow and soon to get shallower.
But the Cleveland Browns’ defense ranked first overall that season. And at 7-3, the Browns were just half a game out of the division lead.
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So on Nov. 20, 2023, the Browns signed a 38-year-old Joe Flacco off the couch. He’d been throwing two to three times a week with his brother while without an NFL roster spot all season and running some to keep his fitness up.
“I definitely believe,” Flacco said two days after the signing, “I can still play.”
Four 300-yard passing games in five starts, a Browns playoff berth and a still-now-revived NFL tenure suggest Flacco was right that he could.
Philip Rivers’ unretirement this week to join the Indianapolis Colts is far from a clean parallel. And yet, the recent memory of Flacco tempts coaches, executives and players around the NFL to wonder: What if?
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To be clear, Rivers is 44 years old, six more senior than Flacco at that signing. Rivers’ last NFL action came 59 months ago, a far cry from Flacco’s 11-month layoff. And Rivers’ omission of any clear throwing routine he’s recently followed suggests that his recent readiness probably don’t resemble that of 2023 Flacco.
And yet, as the Colts took snaps in individual drills Thursday, reporters saw Rivers leading the charge among quarterbacks.
His chance to start against the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday is very real. The energy Rivers is bringing the Colts after Daniel Jones joined fellow quarterback Anthony Richardson Sr. on injured reserve is, too.
Will the admittedly not-mobile-in-his-prime-and-certainly-not-now Rivers be able to step back into form against the league’s No. 2’s defense well enough to produce and stay healthy?
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Head coach Shane Steichen said the club will take its decision day by day, as the Colts also assess sixth-round rookie Riley Leonard’s knee injury recovery. But the tone from Rivers, Steichen and teammates did not suggest Rivers was leaving his family and risking his 2026 Pro Football Hall of Fame semifinalist status (for at least five years) to ride the bench as a mentor.
What’s optimal may not be what unfolds next.
“In an ideal world, Philip would have this week just to get his sea legs back,” one high-ranking AFC executive told Yahoo Sports. “I just don’t know that Indianapolis has that luxury.”
After a 59-month break, Philip Rivers is back in the NFL. (Photo by Timothy T Ludwig/Getty Images)
(Timothy T Ludwig via Getty Images)For Flacco, NFL return was ‘like riding a bike.’ Will older, longer-layoff Rivers agree?
When the Browns approached Flacco in 2023, there were boxes to check.
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Did Flacco want to still play? Was he in shape? Flacco’s arm strength, they realized, was on track to be above average well into his senior citizen days. His muscle mass, too, remained more than sufficient to protect himself from hits.
It was helpful that Flacco, like Rivers now, would need to withstand the wear and tear on his body for about just two months in an ideal world and closer to one if the playoff berth didn’t materialize. Neither club was asking an aging player to hold up through the training camp grind and 17-plus games of a live pass rush. And while the Browns offered Flacco the chance to play with the league’s top defense, the Colts currently rank fifth in scoring and sixth in total offense.
Running back Jonathan Taylor anchors the league’s top ground scoring attack, while the Colts’ offensive line offers the fifth-best run block win rate, per ESPN metrics (protection is a bit shakier, with the 25th-ranked pass block win rate).
Schematically, Rivers enters with more of a playbook advantage than Flacco given he returns to a system he’s played in, teaming up with a coaching staff and terminology with which he’s already familiar.
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Two years ago, then-Browns offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt lauded Flacco’s ability to play on time, work through progressions and take checkdowns. Even as Flacco hadn’t needed to play in rhythm throughout that season, his muscle memory activated when he returned to the field.
“I made sure to keep my arm in good enough shape,” Flacco said after his first start, two weeks into his Browns stint. “There’s definitely an element to it that’s like riding a bike. Just get back out there and start doing it.”
The Colts hope Rivers will experience the same.
Rivers returns to the NFL five years after initially ending his 17-season, eight-Pro Bowl career featuring 134 wins in 240 career regular-season games. Rivers completed 64.9% of passes for 63,440 yards during that stretch; he threw for 421 touchdowns and 209 interceptions.
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Some coaches and talent evaluators around the league wonder how quickly the reactions will return, and they wonder whether Rivers’ body will be able to keep pace with his mind as the pattern recognition returns. Practices won’t represent live hits. But they will indicate his ability to get in sync with his weapons and protection.
“If it’s like, he’s kind of missing throws or he’s a click late and things where you’re like, ‘Ah, that would’ve been a sack,’ I’d want to give him another [week],” the high-ranking AFC executive said. “Or if he feels like he got hit by a Mack truck after going through his first week of NFL practice, I’d wait a week.”
If Rivers’ body can hold up, league execs believe in his mind
Van Pelt championed an unusual trait when Flacco returned.
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Sure, Flacco’s coordinator described his arm strength “on a scale of one to five, I’d say it’s a five.” But beyond ball velocity, Flacco also tapped into a quick release.
“Really self-aware of who he is as a player,” Van Pelt said. “His decision-making and the ability to get the ball out of his hands will help.”
The Colts hope Rivers can similarly understand how well his body can execute the signals his brain sends.
Rivers will benefit from experience with the Colts’ current offensive philosophies during nine overlapping seasons with Steichen at the Chargers. And the high-ranking AFC executive did not worry about Rivers’ ability to diagnose Seahawks head coach Mike MacDonald’s defense. Sure, MacDonald’s schemes warranted at least one former colleague’s description as the “defensive Sean McVay.” But how likely is it that Rivers has faced a similar game plan before?
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“Defensive football really is cyclical and there are only so many coverages that you truly see,” the executive said. “I’d be less concerned about that.”
Waiting a week wouldn’t spell Rivers much more, as the No. 1-ranked defense of the Houston Texans awaits Indianapolis after Seattle.
Rivers said he’ll push to start as soon as possible — even if the Seahawks held 36-year-old Kirk Cousins to a 50% completion rate, two interceptions and no scores less than a week ago.
“I’m going to prepare and push,” he said. “I know how good that stinking team is and how well they’re playing right now. So me at 30 years old, me at 44 years old, going to Seattle and winning in 2025 and Week 14 or whatever it is, it’s going to be tough.”
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Coaches and executives alike are marveling at the experiment, ready to embrace a great story if the wacky experiment somehow works. Some fear Rivers becoming the latest injured Colts quarterback. Rivers argues in return that he has plenty of time to rehabilitate. There is upside, even if the floor is low.
“Let’s face it,” one NFC assistant said, “the Colts can use a shot in the arm and pick-me-up.”
An AFC talent evaluator agreed and then reiterated the disbelief.
“I can’t believe this is happening lol,” the evaluator texted. “It’s like a simulation/dream.
“Pretty unbelievable.”