The former Los Angeles Chargers and Indianapolis Colts quarterback Philip Rivers, who just retired at the end of last season, recently came out and said he has thought about returning to the field. He spent 16 long seasons as the leader of the Chargers before wrapping his career up with one season as the Colts quarterback. He told the Los Angeles Times that he has been making sure he stays in shape just in case an opportunity was to present itself to him. The 39-year-old signal caller said that he is going to start getting himself in shape as best he could in order to stay prepared. However, he doesn’t expect to be back towards the beginning of the NFL season, most reports expect him to make a late season comeback if anything.
There are currently a ton of rumors swirling about a potential return to the Colts because their current starter, Carson Wentz, just went down with a foot injury that will require surgery. His current recovery timeline is about five to 12 weeks, which is way too long to go without a viable quarterback. Although Rivers may not be able to just jump right back into action even if he is in football shape. He is in his first year as the head coach of St. Michael Catholic High School’s football team over in Alabama. He would likely wait until their season is over before trying to jump ship and get back into the league. According to maxpreps.com, their final regular season game is scheduled for October 29th, which is Week 8 in the NFL.
A Rivers return to the NFL would be great for the entire league. He is an eight-time Pro Bowler that is currently fifth in league history in both passing yards with 63,000 and passing touchdowns with 421. Even in his last season with the Colts, he threw for 4,169 yards and 24 touchdowns to get them into the postseason, where they eventually lost to the Buffalo Bills in the Wild Card game. There is a strong chance that he will eventually be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame as well. So, a return to the league in any situation would be great to see, as he is one of the few quarterbacks that has had little postseason success despite always being a phenomenal quarterback.
We have seen this situation happen quite a few times in the NFL in the past couple of seasons, where a longtime great player opts to retire and is immediately thrust back into the mix again in about a year or two. Rob Gronkowski was one of the most memorable ones as he retired with the New England Patriots before returning two seasons later as a member of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. If we do get to see Rivers back in action, I just hope that he is able to be in a position to succeed in the postseason. Whether that happens with the Colts, or another quarterback needy team is yet to be determined.