{"id":226631,"date":"2025-07-22T08:53:14","date_gmt":"2025-07-22T08:53:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/226631\/"},"modified":"2025-07-22T08:53:14","modified_gmt":"2025-07-22T08:53:14","slug":"philip-rivers-signs-one-day-contract-to-retire-with-chargers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/226631\/","title":{"rendered":"Philip Rivers signs one-day contract to retire with Chargers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Philip Rivers has officially put a bow on his 17-year NFL career.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The quarterback signed a one-day contract to retire a Charger on Monday, and he relived his terrific career <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/chargers\/status\/1947416358721097842\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">in an emotional video released by the team<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m Philip Rivers, quarterback, and I\u2019m retiring a Charger,\u201d he began.<\/p>\n<p>Rivers hasn\u2019t suited up for an NFL game since playing for the Colts 2020, but he had never formally announced his retirement.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think gratitude, really, is the first thing that comes to mind. There were so many highlights and fun Sundays. So many. But what I miss and what I\u2019m most appreciative and thankful for, are those relationships,\u201d Rivers said. \u201cThe things that were behind the scenes. What you lived every day. It\u2019s the days at Murphy Canyon, on the practice field. You miss those moments.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:0.79975278;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"36603251\" width=\"472\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/rivers.png\" alt=\"Man in purple polo shirt sitting and talking.\" class=\"wp-image-36603251\"  \/>Philip Rivers signed a one-day contract to retire a Charger. @chargers\/X<\/p>\n<p>Rivers played 16 of his 17 NFL seasons with the Chargers, including 13 years while the franchise was still located in San Diego.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI picture riding down that hill into Qualcomm [Stadium]. And you just go, man, shoot, they\u2019re fired up today,\u201d Rivers said, his voice cracking with emotion. \u201cAnd seeing the flags and seeing the smoke going from the grills and stuff. That just never got old.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Rivers was an eight-time Pro-Bowler, and he passed for at least 20 touchdowns in each of his last 15 years in the NFL.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJust growing up in the yard playing the game, I just loved to play. Loved to compete. And so that part never left me,\u201d Rivers said. \u201cThere are some clips that I\u2019ll look at and just shake my head, and then some I go, \u2018Dang, that was a lot of fun.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.49926794;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"36603260\" width=\"885\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/2019-file-photo-los-angeles-19407125.jpg\" alt=\"Philip Rivers in a Los Angeles Chargers uniform.\" class=\"wp-image-36603260\"  \/>Philip Rivers played 16 seasons with the Chargers. AP<\/p>\n<p>Rivers went on to reference some of his favorite wins, including the Chargers\u2019 23-17 playoff win in 2009, plus thrilling victories over the Bengals in 2006, over the Broncos in 2013 and over the Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium in 2018.<\/p>\n<p>He then began praising some of his stalwart offensive lineman from over the years when four of them \u2013 Jeromey Clary, Marcus McNeill, Nick Hardwick and Kris Dielman \u2013 surprised him mid-video in a heartwarming moment.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m thankful for those 16 years and for entrusting me to be the quarterback, and I certainly never took it for granted,\u201d Rivers concluded. \u201cNever took it for granted, getting to suit up and lead the Chargers for, shoot, two hundred and forty something games in a row.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Philip Rivers has officially put a bow on his 17-year NFL career.\u00a0 The quarterback signed a one-day contract&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":226632,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2064],"tags":[241,7,1014,262,2444,2443,6,3725,9],"class_list":{"0":"post-226631","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles-chargers","8":"tag-chargers","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-los-angeles","11":"tag-los-angeles-chargers","12":"tag-losangeles","13":"tag-losangeleschargers","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-philip-rivers","16":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114896044367985389","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226631","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=226631"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226631\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/226632"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=226631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=226631"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=226631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}