{"id":593240,"date":"2025-12-11T22:28:26","date_gmt":"2025-12-11T22:28:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/593240\/"},"modified":"2025-12-11T22:28:26","modified_gmt":"2025-12-11T22:28:26","slug":"cam-newton-on-colts-signing-44-year-old-philip-rivers-its-almost-like-a-slap-in-my-face","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/593240\/","title":{"rendered":"Cam Newton on Colts signing 44-year-old Philip Rivers: ‘It’s almost like a slap in my face’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Philip Rivers<\/a> hasn’t played in the NFL for several years. Neither has Cam Newton<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Rivers is in his mid-40s. Newton is in his mid-30s.<\/p>\n

Rivers signed with the Indianapolis Colts<\/a> this week. Newton did not \u2014 and he’s taking it somewhat personally that the team did not even reach out to him.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s almost like a slap in my face, bro,” Newton said on the latest episode of the “4th&1 with Cam Newton<\/a>” podcast. ” I ain\u2019t gonna lie.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cohost Omari “Penny” Collins pointed out that NFL teams may not realize Newton is available because of his high profile as a podcaster and TV personality.<\/p>\n

Newton stared at Collins incredulously before shouting his response.<\/p>\n

Read more: ‘Let\u2019s freaking go’: Philip Rivers on coming out of retirement to join Colts<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cDid Philip Rivers send any type of sign that he was available?” the regular contributor on ESPN’s “First Take” said. “Why you asking me to do something that everybody else didn\u2019t do? I ain\u2019t no sucker. I ain\u2019t no lab rat. Come on, bro.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Newton added: \u201cPeople be holding people to a standard that they ain\u2019t even holding everybody else to that standard. And that\u2019s what I don\u2019t like. \u2018Well, you ain\u2019t showed that you [are available].\u2019 Have you followed my Snapchat<\/a>?\u201d<\/p>\n

Rivers spent his first 16 NFL seasons with the Chargers<\/a> and one more with the Indianapolis Colts before retiring after the 2020 season. An eight-time Pro Bowl selection, Rivers ranks in the NFL’s top 10 for passing yards, passing touchdowns and passes completed. He is currently a Pro Football Hall of Fame semifinalist, although his eligibility for that honor may soon get pushed back.<\/p>\n

If Rivers ends up on their active roster \u2014 a distinct possibility with the multitude of quarterback injuries the Colts are dealing with \u2014 Rivers won’t be eligible for the Hall of Fame until five years after he retires again.<\/p>\n

Read more: Philip Rivers coming out of retirement to help ailing Colts’ offense<\/a><\/p>\n

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The signing reunites Rivers with Indianapolis coach Shane Steichen, his onetime quarterbacks coach and then offensive coordinator with the Chargers. The two men are close friends who are said to speak on the phone weekly. As coach of St. Michael Catholic High in Fairhope, Ala., Rivers uses the same plays and terminology as Steichen.<\/p>\n

But, as Newton pointed out to Collins, “he\u2019s 44 years old, bro.”<\/p>\n

Newton, on the other hand, is 36.<\/p>\n

Drafted No. 1 overall by the Carolina Panthers in 2011, he was the league MVP in 2015 and led the Panthers to the Super Bowl the same year. His 75 career rushing touchdowns and 46 career games with both passing and rushing touchdowns were both records for NFL quarterbacks until they were broken this season by Buffalo’s Josh Allen.<\/p>\n

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Newton has not played since 2021, but he never officially retired.<\/p>\n

“I did not,” he said, “and will not because of an opportunity like this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more: NFL Week 15 picks: Rams prevail over Lions; Broncos defeat Packers<\/a><\/p>\n

Newton speculated that teams might be scared off by his flamboyant personality. “They don’t want a circus,” he said.<\/p>\n

He also joked that the Colts already have a star player who wears jersey No. 1 \u2014 cornerback Sauce Gardner \u2014 and they knew “I gotta get No. 1.\u201d<\/p>\n

Newton was sure to state he had nothing personal against Rivers, his “brother from another.” But Newton also made it clear he wouldn’t hesitate to work out for an NFL team truly interested in his services.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI\u2019m open for business,” he said. “But I wanna be [with] who really want me. If you don\u2019t want me, don\u2019t send flowers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Get the best, most interesting and strangest stories of the day from the L.A. sports scene and beyond from our newsletter The Sports Report.<\/a><\/p>\n

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Philip Rivers hasn’t played in the NFL for several years. Neither has Cam Newton. Rivers is in his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":593241,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2059],"tags":[7571,260,241,2005,7,2004,392,2381,89127,872,6,3725,7536],"class_list":{"0":"post-593240","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-indianapolis-colts","8":"tag-cam-newton","9":"tag-carolina-panthers","10":"tag-chargers","11":"tag-colts","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-indianapolis","14":"tag-indianapolis-colts","15":"tag-indianapoliscolts","16":"tag-jordan-strauss","17":"tag-josh-allen","18":"tag-nfl","19":"tag-philip-rivers","20":"tag-sauce-gardner"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115703297213354132","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/593240","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=593240"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/593240\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/593241"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=593240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=593240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=593240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}