It would be completely reasonable to think that Philip Rivers coming out of retirement after a few seasons to return to the NFL as the Colts quarterback for the final few games of the regular season would be the wildest headline of the year involving the veteran NFL signal caller.

But that would be wrong according to multiple some surprising news today.

Multiple reports share that the Buffalo Bills are interviewing Rivers, a high school head coach and decorated NFL veteran quarterback, for their head coaching job.

Rivers has been serving as the head coach at St. Michael Catholic HS, located in Fairhope, Alabama and enjoyed a brief run back in the spotlight in his former role as quarterback for the Colts to end the 2025 season after coming out of retirement.

In his time leading his son’s high school team, St. Michael has finished .500 or better each season. The Cardinals went an impressive 8-3 in Rivers first season as a head coach, followed by dips to 5-5 and then 6-5 before a pair of breakout seasons the last two years.

Rivers and the Cardinals have went a combined 25-3 over the past two seasons with back-to-back trips to the semifinals. The Cardinals went 12-2 in 2024, followed by a 13-1 mark in 2025.

After a season-ending achilles injury to Indianapolis quarterback Daniel Jones, the Colts signed Rivers to the practice quad back in early December of 2025, and three days later he was activated from the practice squad and a day later started in a game against the Seattle Seahawks. He finished a tight 16-18 loss by going 18-for-27 for 120 yards and threw an interception to seal the game on the final drive of the contest. A week later, Rivers made his first home start in a Monday Night Football game against the 49ers, and threw for more yards in the first quarter (121) than he did in the enitre game the week before. He would finish that game with 277 yards through the air, two touchdowns, but threw a pick-six in the game’s waning minutes to aid the Niners 48-27 win.

He would start four games total, but the loss to the Jaguars in week 17 eliminated the Colts from playoff contention, and Rivers announced his retirement as a player for the second time at the conclusion of the season. 

As unconventional as this seems, it’s not unheard of. The Colts tabbed former standout center Jeff Saturday the team’s interim. head coach in 2022 and he had zero previous college or pro coaching experience. Adam Schefter notes that Norm Van Brocklin, a decorated NFL quarterback in the 1950’s who led the NFL in passing, completion percentage, and a number of other statistics, was hired in 1961 as a head coach with no previous coaching experience whatsoever. He would lead the Vikings from 1961-66 and then took over as head coach of the Falcons from 1968-1974 and left the NFL with an overall record of 66-100.

The Bills are searching for a head coach that can maximize the talents of star quarterback Josh Allen after some disappointing early playoff exits under Sean McDermott.

Despite making the postseason in eight of McDermott’s nine seasons, the Bills made the controversial decision to part ways with the veteran coach who went 98-50 with the organization in his first head coaching job.

In addition to Rivers, the organization has, or is holding interviews with offensive coordinator Joe Brady and former offensive coordinator Brian Daboll who led the New York Giants the last several seasons, as well as a host of other candidates you can see on our NFL head coach interview tracker page.Â