When the news broke that the Colts will give a workout to a quarterback who last played in the team’s most recent playoff game in January 2021, I thought it was a joke.
The joke may ultimately be on the Colts.
Maybe 44-year-old Philip Rivers has something more than fumes in the lawnmower tank after more than four and a half seasons of retirement. Maybe he’ll do enough to stop the 1-4 slide that has followed a 7-1 start.
But they’re bringing in Rivers because there aren’t many other options. That’s because, in part, the trade deadline came and went five weeks ago.
Primary backup (and former starter) Anthony Richardson suffered an orbital fracture before the team’s Week 6 game. The Colts had 22 days to make a deal for a veteran to serve as the understudy to Daniel Jones, who has had multiple injuries during his career. They opted to ride with rookie Riley Leonard and Brett Rypien.
Now that Jones is done for the year and Leonard emerged from his debut with an injury of his own, the Colts are scrambling. The fact that Rivers got a call shows how they feel about available free agents like Taylor Heinicke and Sam Ehlinger. (For all anyone knows, they’ll both be showing up for Tuesday’s tryout, too.)
And to the extent that a team would be willing to release a veteran (e.g., the Giants and Russell Wilson), any player who is cut at this point of the calendar must pass through waivers. Even Derek Carr, who is on the Saints’ reserve/retired list, would be subject to waivers if the Saints were to relinquish his contractual rights.
The point is that the Colts could have tried, during the three weeks between the Richardson injury and the trade deadline, to make a deal for a veteran. Maybe they did and simply couldn’t come to an agreement with a willing team.
Regardless, it was a calculated risk to have Jones, Leonard, and Rypien. Now, the Colts may be down to Rypien and Rivers. Which will make it very hard to avoid becoming the sixth team since the 1970 merger to miss the playoffs after winning seven or more of its first eight games.
