Philip Rivers does not expect to elude many a pass rush.
But when the 44-year-old quarterback answered a call from Indianapolis Colts head coach Shane Steichen and general manager Chris Ballard on Sunday night, he realized that wasn’t what their challenge would most require.
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A quarterback who knew the playbook? Rivers spent nine years with Steichen as members of the Chargers then a 10th and final NFL season with Ballard and the Colts in 2020. Have a sense of the roster? Rivers said at his (re-)introductory media conference Wednesday that 14 players date back to his last stint in the league, including offensive starters in running back Jonathan Taylor, receiver Michael Pittman Jr. and tight end Mo Alie-Cox.
So when Steichen and Ballard asked, “Hey, what do you think?” Rivers couldn’t help but be interested. They told him to sleep on the decision, and he awoke Monday more adamant.
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A flight to Indianapolis and throwing session helped seal the deal. By Tuesday, from his hotel room, Steichen said Rivers told Colts brass: “Dadgummit, let’s freaking go.” Wednesday morning, the Colts announced they had signed Rivers to the practice squad.
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“I’m not here to stinking save the year or be a hero by any means,” Rivers said. “We got to stinking run the crap out of the football and play defense and do all those things. So if that comes to be, and I’m the one that’s out there, 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 we end up going.
“I ain’t never ran away from anybody anyway. 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.’”
The Colts’ decision to unretire Rivers five years after his last NFL action is atypical. But so, too, was their predicament.
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Starting quarterback Daniel Jones, who had led the Colts to a surprise 8-2 start, went from declining play due to a broken left fibula to injured reserve with a right torn Achilles also. The quarterback Jones beat out in the preseason, 2023 fourth overall draft pick Anthony Richardson Sr., has yet to be cleared by doctors after sustaining an orbital fracture in a freak accident warming up for an October game. Sixth-round rookie quarterback Riley Leonard relieved Jones last Sunday — but began to realize on the plane Sunday and into Monday that he’d hurt his knee.
He was able to practice Wednesday but has not yet been guaranteed his availability for a Sunday matchup vs. the 10-3 Seattle Seahawks.
And the Colts do not appear to have much confidence in journeyman Brett Rypien, also under contract.
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So what does a team with three injured quarterbacks and a playoff berth slipping but not yet out of reach do?
Remember, this is the same franchise that plucked former offensive lineman Jeff Saturday off the ESPN airwaves to serve as its interim head coach in 2022, when Frank Reich was fired.
Longtime Colts members knew better than to be surprised.
“I’ve learned over the years to expect the unexpected,” linebacker Zaire Franklin, an eight-year Colt, said. “Unusual circumstances called for unusual answers. Thankful that we got a guy who knows the system, that knows the building, that knows the guy [and] is able to step in and help us right away.
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“It is a crazy situation.”
Philip Rivers’ last game for the Colts was a wild-card game in 2021 against the Bills. (Photo by Timothy T Ludwig/Getty Images)
(Timothy T Ludwig via Getty Images)Rivers and Leonard may be 22 years apart — but Colts’ QB room isn’t as random as you think
It would be fair for Leonard to have questions about the Colts bringing in a 44-year-old who hasn’t played in five years to challenge him for Sunday’s starting job.
In relief of Jones on Sunday, Leonard completed 62.1% (18 of 29) of passes for 145 yards and an interception. He rushed twice for 5 yards and a touchdown.
Leonard is a Day 3 draft pick with a banged-up knee who is “learning this business and I don’t have an opinion on it,” he said diplomatically of the signing. But in a vacuum, it should be reasonable to ask: What can a 44-year-old even do against a frenetic Seahawks front featuring the likes of Leonard Williams and DeMarcus Lawrence? Does this guy really want to do this?
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It turns out, Leonard has reason to know better: The 23-year-old worked out with the 44-year-old then-high school coach through the spring in their shared Alabama town of Fairhope.
So Leonard knows that Rivers knows the scheme because it was Rivers he texted when the Colts drafted him, and Rivers whose house he then drove to to review the Colts’ playbook together. Leonard knows Rivers can throw after the two battled in net target throws in the spring. And Leonard knows Rivers is as competitive as he’s seen because when they raced in sprints or throwing on the run, Leonard would hear about it hours later.
“If I got him that day in particular, he’d send me a voice memo at 11 p.m. at night complaining on how I cheated and how I picked an unfair drill,” Leonard said Wednesday. “So yeah, I knew he still had [the drive]. But it is crazy.
“It is as crazy to me as it is anybody.”
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Rivers rejoins the Colts five years after his last action in a 17-year career. Rivers won 134 of 240 career regular-season games, completing 64.9% of passes for 63,440 yards, 421 touchdowns and 209 interceptions.
His last NFL action came with the Colts in 2020, after 16 years with the Chargers. Rivers completed 68% of pass attempts for 24 touchdowns and 11 interceptions as the Colts advanced to the playoffs.
He didn’t sit around hoping this opportunity would come again.
“Certainly I wasn’t really hanging onto any hope [of] playing again,” Rivers said. “I kind of thought that ship had sailed. But something about it excited me. And it’s kind of one of those deals that a door opens and you can either walk through it and find out if you can do it, or run from it.
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“I know there’s risk involved obviously or what may or may not happen. But the only way to find out is going for it. And I felt almost like it was a gift and another opportunity to play and cut it loose with the guys in the game you love to play and the dream 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.”
Do Colts have a chance to make noise with Rivers
Playing shape and pocket movement will be the biggest questions for Rivers, even if mobility wasn’t the top trait on which his NFL success long hinged.
Mastering the game plan, by all accounts, does not seem to be a concern.
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Not only did Rivers play in this system dating back to his Chargers tenure, including four years with Steichen as quarterbacks coach and then interim offensive coordinator — but also Rivers has coached his son Gunnar’s high school team this year with the same playbook. He and Steichen have reviewed concepts and how they were received throughout the season. The mental catchup, Steichen and Rivers feel, is doable.
“I told Gunnar last night, I gave him a play off the call sheet and he was like, ‘Dang, because we ran that play two weeks ago in the semifinal game,’” Rivers said. “You know what I mean? So that part’s cool …
“It’s been a whirlwind of 48 hours, I’ll say. But each moment that goes by, I feel more and more confident.”
Will confidence be sufficient? Rivers is not the first player to return after a period of time away, even if the circumstances have varied. The Browns went to the playoffs during the 2023 season after signing Joe Flacco off the couch in December — but Flacco had spent 11 months away from the game, not 59. Some players have suffered injuries after sudden returns, including safety Eric Weddle tearing a pec in the 2021 season’s Super Bowl with the Los Angeles Rams and Darren Waller injuring his pec earlier this season (Waller has returned from injured reserve).
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Rivers said he and his family are “a little scared, a little nervous.” But beyond the doubt, he believes football comes with injury risk at any age or stage. The Colts don’t need to look far to remember.
“You never hope something like that or expect something like that to happen,” Rivers said. “But shoot, something like that happens, I got a long time to recover, so that’s for sure.”
The Colts, meanwhile, feel time is ticking on the playoff window they demonstrated belief in after a trade-deadline acquisition of cornerback Sauce Gardner. Indianapolis doesn’t want to lose out on a wide-open AFC in a year when Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs are set to break their seven-year streak of not just playoff berths but AFC championship berths.
Any quarterback who can help Indianapolis chase that goal is welcome, beginning with contests against the top two scoring defenses in the Seahawks (17.4 points per game) and Houston Texans (16.0)
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The Colts’ playoff hopes could hinge on Rivers’ ability.
After an 8-2 start that featured wins over current playoff contenders in the Denver Broncos and Los Angeles Chargers, three straight losses have followed.
Losing to the Jaguars last week knocked the Colts out of the playoff picture, their 8-5 record now eighth place in the AFC and third in the AFC South beneath the 9-4 Jaguars and 8-5 Texans (the Texans beat the Colts, giving them the tiebreaker).
The Colts currently have a 26% chance to make the playoffs, per Next Gen Stats. If they beat the Seattle Seahawks this weekend, that chance jumps to 50%, per Next Gen Stat’s model.
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With that upside, Rivers wants to make a bet on his health and is willing to delay his Pro Hall of Fame consideration another five years (Rivers is a semifinalist for the 2026 class, though his candidacy consideration will be delayed five years if he plays).
He can spend time doubting his ability. Or he could take a chance.
“The easiest way to eliminate all the things that can go bad is to stay home,” Rivers said. “And the only way to find out, ‘Can you still do it?’ is to go try.
“There’s something about being back in this building that feels right. And I’m just thankful.”