“I hadn’t given much thought to playing again until approximately 48 hours ago, to be truthful with you,” a direct Philip Rivers remarked while standing before a collection of journalists at the Indianapolis Colts facility.
But there he was, at the age of 44 – and now a grandfather, to boot – conversing with the press Wednesday subsequent to being added to the team’s practice squad.
Rivers retired from the NFL in January 2021, after 17 seasons in the league, having spent his final year with the Colts during a difficult Covid-19 season. And in a surprising turn of affairs, he may take the field as soon as Sunday.
Circumstances have shifted somewhat since Rivers last donned a Colts uniform in 2020. The NFL season now comprises 17 regular-season contests – and the press briefings are in person once more rather than via Zoom.
Rivers, instructing high school football in Fairhope, Alabama, had been nowhere near an NFL facility.
But it emerges the Colts, who initially showed considerable promise when commencing the season 7-1, are currently sitting at 8-5 and riddled with injuries. They required assistance at quarterback – and swiftly.
So Colts head coach Shane Steichen – who collaborated with Rivers as an assistant coach when they were with the Chargers – made a call. Steichen informed reporters that Rivers – sixth overall in passing touchdowns and seventh overall in passing yards – expressed interest, then he pondered it overnight.
“Called him back Monday morning. He said, ‘I need to get up there, need to get up there and throw, get in that building, start moving around,’” Steichen recounted Rivers telling him.
“So he came in here, threw – he hadn’t forgotten how to toss a football. … Then Tuesday, he was in the hotel mulling it over. He called us, me and (Colts general manager) Chris (Ballard) were in the office, said, ‘What do you reckon?’
“He said, ‘Dadgummit, let’s absolutely go.’”
Rivers suggested that this prospect felt appropriate: He was acquainted with Steichen and the Colts’ attack – he was calling the identical plays while coaching secondary schoolers. Indianapolis, where he played one year subsequent to spending his initial 16 with the Chargers, is where his NFL career concluded.
Or so he presumed at the moment.
“They desired me,” Rivers stated of the Colts on Wednesday. “I attempt to keep it as basic as that. A sport I adore to compete in. A sport that I thought I was finished participating in. Certainly, I wasn’t truly holding onto any expectation of playing again. I somewhat thought that chance had passed.
“But something about it energized me. Just kind of one of those situations – a gateway opens and you can either step through and discover if you can manage it or retreat from it. I know that there’s hazard related obviously in what might or might not transpire. But the sole manner to ascertain is to attempt for it.”
‘Dad, do you suppose you can manage it?’
Rivers was asked how his relatives responded to the tidings.
“I think like all of us, even me, I mean, you’re a bit apprehensive, a bit anxious,” Rivers mentioned. “I mean, all the above. Any descriptor you can insert in there that’s a synonym with those. But thrilled.
“I think my spouse has been my greatest proponent the whole duration I’ve competed, and she’s concerned about the physical facet of it, as you would anticipate any spouse to be.”
“But, goodness, I mean for 250 contests or whatever it was,” Rivers stated (it was 244 regular-season matchups and 12 playoff games, for the record), “that was a danger, you realize, as you observe every week.
“Whether you’re 24 and in peak physical condition or whether you’re 44 and less certain, anything can occur. That has never been a worry of mine, and you never wish something like that, or anticipate something like that to occur.”
“But goodness,” Rivers added. “(If) something like that occurs, I have a lengthy period to recuperate, that’s for certain,” resulting in chuckles in the media area.
As for his offspring, he claims they too have been encouraging of his return.
“(My younger offspring) are delighted because they don’t recall Dad competing,” Rivers mentioned. “You know, my 6-year-old actually questioned me about four months ago, like, ‘Dad, why don’t you compete anymore?’ And I’m like, ‘Heavens, I apologize. The best you’re going to get is me coaching on the sideline.’ Because they were observing, you know, a highlight or they’re pulling up some old contests.
“My boys are thrilled, evidently, but I think share the identical feeling – a little anxious like, ‘Dad, do you think you can manage it?’
“And then my older daughters are very delighted because they’re a bit perplexed. They’re like, ‘Goodness, I was 12,’ you know, some of them. Now, all of a sudden, they’re grown adults, married, and they recall 16 years old attending the sporting event.
“So it’s been a flurry of 48 hours I’ll state, but every second that passes I feel more and more assured. I truly do.”
Hall of Fame consideration ‘not an element’
Steichen termed signing Rivers “a full circle occurrence,” calling the quarterback one of the shrewdest players he’s ever encountered and that “the manner he perceives the contest is on an entirely distinct plane.”
“For him to return and wish to accomplish this at 44 years old, I think is amazing, and I realize he’s going to devote everything to this organization that he possesses,” Steichen stated.
Rivers was nearing a prospective spot in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in his initial year of eligibility – having been recently named a semifinalist. If he’s added to the Colts active roster, his eligibility will be postponed another five years.
“Missing the Hall of Fame, it’s a genuine honor to be referenced among those other 25 gentlemen, certainly, but I’m not holding my breath on that,” Rivers remarked. “I hadn’t been tallying the years. I mean, with all regard to the Hall, and if one day I can be a piece of that collection, it will be remarkable, no uncertainty about it. But the extension of time, if that comes to be, was not a factor in my contemplation.”
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