Philip Rivers Is Back! Is This a Good Idea?

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2:06Welcome to the Ringer NFL show. I'm Shiel Kapadia and today we are talking about Philip Rivers returning to the NFL. This is not some type of April Fool's joke. He is coming back to the Colts, signing to the Colts practice squad at 44 years old. And it sounds like he could get on the field sooner rather than later. So this is the most stunning story of the 2025 NFL season. A very interesting wrinkle here in December as the Colts reach this desperate mode with Riley Leonard going down, Daniel Jones going down, Anthony Richardson still not back. Why is Philip Rivers doing this? Why are the Colts doing this?

2:47How will this play out? Are we in favor of it? To talk about it all, we've got on my friend from the Ringer, Billy Gill. We go in all kinds of different directions with this story, which is a fun story. It is a fun story to have here in December. So let's take a break. We come back. We talk to Billy about Philip Rivers returning. This episode of the Ringer NFL show is presented by State Farm. Having insurance isn't the same as having State Farm. It's like expecting the leadership of a team captain on the football field, but getting a sea captain? Sure, they're both captains, but who is going to run your offense?

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3:48All right, we are back here on the Ringer NFL show with Billy Gill. Billy the Colts giving us some news today. Phillip Rivers signing to their practice squad. He's 44. He's become a grandpa in recent years, which I didn't realize until reading the coverage today. Let's just start with how do we feel about this? Is this a good idea? How is this going to play out? What are the angles of this that most interest you?

4:15Sheil Kapadia:So I think the most important angle, first of all, for us in this pod, right, is it's a nice, juicy story to fill a Wednesday. When normally it's like hump day of the week and it's kind of like, are we still recapping last week? Are we previewing next week? And boom, the Colts do something that no one was expecting. You know what? We have an injury at quarterback, not their first injury of the season at quarterback. What should we do? Who do we turn to? And they blessed us with the Phillip Rivers. I don't know if you were probably like everyone else who was kind of consuming it in real time, where there was just kind of the rumors, the reports before Monday Night Football.

4:49Sheil Kapadia:And it was almost like the panels were in disbelief as Adam Schefter would reveal what the Colts were actually up to at the time. Like, what a wild story just to pop out of nowhere. For a team which, by the way, is still very much in it and alive and should probably not be turning to a 44-year-old who hasn't been in the league for five years. Or should they be? Is the question, you know, listen, there, there could be a zag on this. The wildest thing is that I didn't remember. I was like, when is the last time Philip Rivers played in the NFL? Has it been a couple of years? Has it been three years?

5:22It's been five years has not played since 2025 years ago. The Colts went 11 and five that year. He was an above average player. But now, you know, they have the injury to Daniel Jones, Riley Leonard comes in, he hurts his knee. Anthony Richardson had the orbital fracture and just like the replicative reporting on this is incredible. Like I was reading the ESPN report before, you know, it got finalized that he's going to join the practice squad. And they said the Colts believe rivers familiarity could give them a realistic chance to stay competitive. I mean, this is incredible, Billy. This is, I don't want to say unprecedented because I was looking up how many quarterbacks have played at age 44 or older.

6:02And since 2000, you have Warren moon. He played in 2000 with the Chiefs. He went 12 for 31 for 130 yards. I don't know if you remember that or not. Who can forget it? Who can forget? Yeah. Vinny test of Erdi in 2007 throws 97 passes, completes 54 % of them with the Panthers. And then of course, just the crazy two Tom Brady outliers here with his two seasons with the box, but I'll go on the record. I think this is great for team content. I'm with you, not only for a random Wednesday in December, but for Sunday, if he actually plays against the Seattle Seahawks, which it sounds like is possible, guess what?

6:38I'm going to be tuning in to watch Philip Rivers at age 44. And I'll tell you the other thing on behalf of all the old guys out here. You know, you get to a certain age where you get really excited when the old guys do stuff like this. You know, like LeBron last week was in Philadelphia playing the Sixers. He just took over the game in the fourth quarter. I'm like, LeBron's doing that at 40. Now I'm like, Rivers is getting out there at 44. you know I might have a little shoulder tendinitis in the left shoulder here but who knows what I'm capable of Philly so I'm all for this I'm going on the record I love it well so here's the question

7:11Sheil Kapadia:that I have for you before we get into it because I also went to see how it is that he finished because I forgot like I just thought Philip Rivers I remember when he signed with the Colts you're kind of like why is Philip Rivers signing with the Colts and he had one season there and kind of just retired and I look back wasn't a bad season didn't have a bad playoff game either like It was decent. But back to the age for a minute, because you're rooting for the old guys, as am I. Here's my question to you in regards to Phillip Rivers. Because he's been out for five years, could this be a situation where he is the old guy, but he still has some miles left?

7:44Sheil Kapadia:Because everybody's talking about how old he is, and the NFL is trying to be cute, and they're putting out there, Phillip Rivers is older than 12 head coaches in the NFL now. His head coach included now, his new head coach, Shane Steichen, is on the list of coaches that he's older than. And Sean McVay, by the way, not that this is going to be a Sean McVay thing, but the fact that Sean McVay is still only 39 when it feels like he's been a head coach for 10 years is insane. Like the age of a lot of these coaches, honestly, and I don't know if you felt like this, but when you see how young some of these head coaches are in the NFL, I look at myself in the mirror and I think, wow, you've accomplished nothing with your life.

8:18Sheil Kapadia:These people are around your age and they're so much more advanced in their careers. They're so much more successful than you are. You, Billy Gill, are a failure. And you know what? I'm looking into Philip Rivers and I'm hoping that he goes out there and he says, you know what? No, these young pipsqueaks, these 39 year olds, these 38 year olds, I'm not listening to them. I'm Philip Dan Rivers. He probably wouldn't say damn. He'd probably say like dang Rivers or something. Right. And then he'd come in here and he'd take over. But do you think that this is a situation where the five years off has kind of he's gotten his body to kind of feel a little bit better, loosened up his arms?

8:53Sheil Kapadia:I was reading a report where they were saying he stayed in shape because he's a head coach now of a high school, which I don't exactly understand. But we can also get into his high school coaching success or lack thereof because I did some digging into that as well. And I have records for you if you'd like that. We have all kinds of places we can go with Phillip Rivers today. Well, to your point, I do think, you know, we always make such a big deal. Like, oh, they had to buy last week. You know, they're going to come back and they're going to be fresh. and you might have had this nagging elbow injury or knee injury, but man, that one week off, the two weeks off, the 10 days, oh, they played on a Thursday.

9:29Now they play on a Monday. This team's going to be so fresh. He's had five years off. I mean, listen, there's got to be some rest and recovery there. It's not like he was ever the most athletic guy. You know, he basically has to field the snap and throw the football. He is not going to have to run more than five yards at a time unless it's like a two-minute drill. So, yes, I think that I think maybe it worked in his favor a little bit. Mentally, this is going to be so easy for him. You know, like I was reading, you know, to get to your high school thing. It's like I was reading that he ran the same offense that Shane Steichen has been running and they've been talking.

10:05So he knows the offense. He's seen every blitz package. He's seen every coverage known to man. That part's going to be easy. I do wonder about like the two minute drill stuff when he has to run. But it could be a disaster. Sure. But guess what? You know what? You don't know if you don't try, and I'm glad he's trying.

10:22Sheil Kapadia:Well, here's the thing. Okay, so we talked about how we both looked up 2020. In 2020, he was 11-5. He made the playoffs. He threw for over 4 ,000 yards. He had 24 touchdowns, 11 interceptions. He made it to the playoffs and lost to the Bills, but only lost 27-24. He had 300 yards, 300-plus yards in that game. He went out kind of not on top, but he didn't go out kind of in an embarrassing fashion where it's like, oh, he should definitely be retiring. And you know who I feel bad for here? Who's that? It's Brent Rippon. Poor Brent Rippon just can't get a shake, man. Yeah, I can't get a break. He probably saw all these other people getting their actual physical breaks.

10:58Sheil Kapadia:And he's like, you know what? This is my shot here. Because Brent Rippon was sitting pretty when he was in Cincinnati this year. And he's like, oh my gosh, Joe Burrow is hurt. This is great for me. Until they said, you know what? No, we're going to trade for Joe Flacco. And you are no longer needed on this team. So then he gets released. Then he signs with the Colts. he's probably thinking, when am I going to get a shot at the Colts? Daniel Jones now is this new version of Daniel Jones. I'm never going to see the field. Third string, fourth string on the depth chart. And sure enough, everything breaks exactly right for Brett Rippon.

11:29Sheil Kapadia:And no, they've decided, you know what? Let's go with Phillip Rivers at 44 years old. Sure, he hasn't played in a while, but I guess to what you're saying, he stayed in shape and he's been running the same offense for his high school team. So why not give him a go? So maybe some tension in that quarterback room, And you're saying, you know, Phillip Rivers comes in and it's like, hey, is the cafeteria still over here? And Brett Rippon's like, whatever, man. Like, I'm not. Yeah, I'm not. I'm not helping you out. This was my job. This was my time. And you coming out of nowhere. Everyone's all excited.

12:00You know, you got that charm. You got that Alabama accent and everyone likes you. And now I'm just sitting back here holding the clipboard. I think that is a good sort of under the radar angle to watch here, Billy. Now I do want to get to the high school thing, but I did want to ask you this as a fellow father, you know, you are as I am. Philip Rivers has 10 kids ranging from two to 23. And this is from the official, I believe it's Wikipedia. I believe it's, is the pronunciation there. That's where I got this information. Proper citation is important. Five are teenagers. He's got the grandkid.

12:39Now at that point in his life, I'm wondering, is he like... this is kind of a fun one month, two month break for me. You know, like I love my kids. I love spending time with my kids. We've had a great five years, but some of these kids are getting on my nerves. You know, they're going through puberty, the emotions, maybe the younger kids are a little bossy and it's just like, I'm going to go chill in Indy. You know, it's an indoor stadium. So, you know, don't worry about the cold. You can get to everywhere in Indy through the tunnels. I'm going to go hang out with the boys for a little bit. You know what I'm saying?

13:12get a couple lifts in, throw the old pigskin around, get some money in my pocket. Cause this is 10 kids we're sending to college potentially if they decide to go that route. Grandkids too. Is this kind of like, uh, let's just, you know, go hang out with the boys for a little bit. You can't, because he can't ask right now. He can't be to his wife. Like, Hey, I'm going on a golf trip with the boys, you know, with 10 kids. I imagine that is just not going to fly. So this is kind of his version of that.

13:40Sheil Kapadia:It's a good question, right? The interesting thing about the age range of his kids is that his oldest child is a couple months older than Riley Leonard, which is going to be an interesting situation. I think like three or four months older than Riley Leonard. So I was thinking that too. And I was thinking, you know, obviously when you hire a Phillip Rivers to be the head coach of your high school football team, you're very excited. You jump at that opportunity. Who wouldn't jump at the opportunity to have Phillip Rivers be your coach, right? But what kind of message are you sending to your team if you bail on them to leave to the NFL?

14:14Sheil Kapadia:You just leave them high and dry. This is an important time in the football season and high school football. So I did a little digging and I looked up St. Michael Catholic High School and how it is that their season is going. St. Michael Catholic High School, they unfortunately lost in the final four of the Alabama State Football Championship. Oh, that's pretty good. They had a great season. They were 13 and one. they lost in the final four to Jackson. Now, Jackson is a familiar foe because, as I'm sure you know, last year St. Michael was 12-2, and they lost in the final four to Jackson again.

14:47Sheil Kapadia:No, back-to-back. Back-to-back final four losses to Jackson seems to really be a thorn in the side here for St. Michael and for Phillip Rivers. It was a nice little story that they have going on here because the previous years, 2023-2024, they were 6-5. They lost in the first round to Handley. But they then have advanced like three more rounds. So they're trending in the right direction. 2022, 2023, they were five and five. In his first season, they were seven and two. So he's definitely got them going in the right direction. Now, here's the good part about this. He's not really bailing on any commitments here because they've already been eliminated.

15:24Sheil Kapadia:Season's over. Exactly. He can go scratch that itch. He can go play in the NFL a little bit longer now. Again, get a couple walking around money for old Phillip Rivers. You know, maybe we can put that towards the younger grandkids. Maybe put that in like some sort of IRA or something. I don't know exactly how that financial stuff works, I'll be honest with you. I'm not someone who's made the amounts of money where I'm storing it away for rainy days. We can talk 529 off air. Yeah, we can have that conversation. All right, a little 529 action, all right? So maybe that's the right number. Maybe that's what he's doing.

15:56Sheil Kapadia:But he's not sending a bad message because next year, I mean, we know, we should know. Listen, maybe he comes in there and he lights the world on fire and they say, you know what? You got to stick around for age 45, but it's probably not that. This is probably just a couple month rental here. So why not go out there, have some fun to your point. Look, between us dads here and the listeners, dads, moms, whoever's listening, not the kids, kids turn away for a second here. Okay. You don't want to hear this. Here's the thing. My kids were around. They had, I don't know why, but down here, they got the entire week off for Thanksgiving, which I thought was excessive.

16:29Sheil Kapadia:I remember like back in the day, we'd get off maybe a half day on Wednesday. then we get Thursday and Friday, we'd have to sell pizza or whatever, like wrapping paper, whatever it was. And then you'd earn like the half day off. Now they just give the kids the entire week off, which is insanity. And, uh, as someone who's working from home, I was really excited for, for this week to start up again and Thanksgiving to be over. If I'm going to be honest with you, I was ready to get back from the Thanksgiving break. It was, it was a bit much. So I think that Philip with, uh, with 10 kids running around and grandkids, I would imagine and he's looking for things to do here.

17:03Sheil Kapadia:And I know that here's the other awkward part about it, and I don't know how we're going to come back from this situation, right? Because in Phillip coming back, we have two awkward situations. Number one is about a week ago to 10 days ago, Phillip was announced as a semifinalist for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. So if Phillip is, he's now signed with the Colts. To my understanding, if he is added to the active roster, then we reset the clock. If he's not added to the active roster, he's just there, practice squad, whatever. He's just hanging out with the boys. I think he's still good. But all signs would indicate that he's going to be signed to this active roster and maybe starting in like three days, which is wild.

17:44Sheil Kapadia:And then he's going to have to sit for five more years before he gets into the Hall of Fame, which is crazy. But we'll get to the Hall of Fame later because I did some digging and I've started connecting some dots. Now, here's the other awkward situation with this. A couple months ago, Phillip Rivers, who again retired in January of 2021, did that thing where he went to the Chargers and he signed a one-day contract to retire as a Charger. now he is unretiring and he's going back to the Colts which is an uncomfortable situation because when he does retire again do the Chargers feel like they need to sign him to another one day contract?

18:28Sheil Kapadia:Does he go back for the one day? He again retires as a Charger or does he call it quits as a Colts which is then a slap in the face to the Chargers who has now spurned on more than one occasion? let's see this is why i love having you on because i know you're not just going to come on here and just you're going to do some digging you're going to do some research and you're going to find the angles that no one else is finding now the hall of fame thing who cares you wait another five years to me not not a big deal the chargers thing has me uh intrigued does he sign the one day or not the one they offer it to him do they offer it maybe they're done with them exactly right now Now he's burned that.

19:06How about this? What if the Colts play the Chargers in the playoffs, Billy? And Rivers is lighting it up and it's Rivers versus Herbert.

19:13Sheil Kapadia:What do you do? What do you do? Because now, like, that was, look, the Colts, as a man who has been obviously faithful and loyal to his wife with 10 children and now grandchildren, Phillip Rivers is a loyal man. And the Colts were his mistress, you know, if we're going to be honest with you. The Chargers were his wife. The Colts were his mistress. and he you know he had that thing that little fling on vacation didn't mean anything didn't mean anything but he got back with his wife I'm sorry I still love you but now the mistress is back and now it's going to be harder to explain the mistress again well what are we doing here we forgave you and we thought we were back what's going on I thought this was over we said this was over six months ago you said this was over what happened here I don't know I don't like it Amazing.

20:04All right, let's take a break. We come back, we'll finish on Rivers. And then are there any other athletes who should un-retire here? We'll get into that at the end of the show. This episode is brought to you by American Eagle. Gift, gift, hooray! Give great jeans this holiday season with American Eagle. They have all the wishlist-worthy new arrivals for everyone on your list, including you. You'll find comfy, cozy sweaters, soft fleece, sweatshirts, hoodies, flannels, and a whole bunch more. Plus, you'll love their trending jeans, like the high-waisted stovepipe, original straight, boot cut, and so many more fits.

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21:22Let's close this out with, so I think we're both excited about this. We both want to see it. There is some controversy. We don't know how it's going to work, but in terms of content, it's great. We got to just, the elephant in the room, the vasectomy here. I mean, I'm just saying, you know, I'm glad they have a, the romance is still there. They have a, seem to have a lovely marriage, 10 kids. I mean, think about how fun Thanksgiving will be. All those kids around, you know, for years to come, big family. Do you think that's been approached? Is there any, you know, is this a way to get out of a vasectomy?

21:56Potentially, maybe he had an appointment and he said, I can't make it anymore because the Colts just called me. Is there any, is that an angle here we need to explore or should we just move on?

22:05Sheil Kapadia:I thought that maybe like father time or mother nature would remain undefeated at a certain point. You know, his body, yeah. Bodies would just do what bodies do and you'd have the natural vasectomy, but I guess not. By the way, Sheel, I did some digging as I told you and I found a couple of things. I found a reason why this makes sense for Phillip Rivers besides getting away from his family and a potential unknown nemesis that exists in the NFL world that may be fueling this. All right. And I also I'm going to give you a choice because I don't know if we have time for both, but it's up to you because it's your show.