Philip Rivers’ stunning NFL comeback has captured the league’s imagination. Not just because he’s 44 and five years removed from his last snap, but because no one expected the retired high-school coach to get another shot. Not even Rivers himself.
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Rivers had retired back in 2021, settled into coaching high-school football, and figured that chapter of his life was over. But everything changed when he saw Daniel Jones go down with a torn Achilles tendon. The moment triggered the same thought fans had: would the Colts call? Forty-eight hours later, they did. Rivers explained why he said yes:
“A game I love to play… I wasn’t really hanging on any hope of playing again. I kind of thought that ship had sailed, but something about it excited me. A door opens and you either walk through it or run from it. I just felt almost like it was a gift, another opportunity to play.”
Shane Steichen loved the idea. The Colts brought him onto the practice squad with the possibility of starting this week against Seattle. Rivers, who last threw an NFL pass in January 2021, now has a chance to shock the sport one more time.
Tom Brady, familiar with unretiring, couldn’t help but joke when talking about Rivers returning five years after retiring:
“Who retires and then unretires and then is ultimately going to retire? Who does that? Is that even… It’s ridiculous. I mean, for Philip to do that. But good for him.”
The irony wasn’t lost on anyone, including Brady himself. After all, he once retired, unretired 40 days later, played another season, then retired for good. Would he still unretire? If it were up to him, yes.
“I think the answer for me would be yes. But I’m not allowed to anymore because I’m a minority owner of the Raiders, so I can’t unretire.”
And while many question Rivers’ physical readiness, Brady insists the mental side is more important:
“This game is about, for the quarterback, from the neck up…The mental is to the physical as four is to one. That doesn’t go away. Do you still have the physical ability to still do it — take the hits, make the throws, the drops, buy a little time in the pocket? “
If Rivers has been quietly preparing, Brady believes fans “will see it on full display in Seattle.”
