Nearly five years after playing his last game in the NFL, Philip Rivers is back with the Indianapolis Colts.
Per ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Rivers has agreed to a deal to join the Colts’ practice squad.
One person close to Rivers told The Athletic’s Dianna Russini that the veteran quarterback is in better shape now than when he played.
“It’s a no-brainer for who gives them the best chance,” the person said.
The move comes after NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport and Mike Garafolo reported on Monday that the Colts were bringing Rivers in for a workout due to injuries in their quarterback room.
Daniel Jones’ season ended due to a torn Achilles in Sunday’s loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Riley Leonard saw his first significant action in that game and seemed in line to be the starter going forward, but head coach Shane Steichen announced on Monday the rookie suffered a knee injury that has left his status for Week 15 unclear.
Anthony Richardson, the No. 4 overall pick in the 2023 draft, has been on injured reserve since October due to an orbital fracture suffered when an elastic stretch band he was using in warmups prior to a game against the Arizona Cardinals broke and hit him in the face.
Steichen said on Monday that Richardson wouldn’t be activated from IR this week. That left the Colts with no healthy quarterbacks on the roster right now with a game against the Seattle Seahawks at Lumen Field ahead on Sunday.
Rivers spent what had been his final season in the NFL with the Colts in 2020. He signed with the club as a free agent after playing 16 seasons with the Los Angeles Chargers.
The Colts went 11-5 with Rivers as their starter and made the playoffs, losing 27-24 to the Buffalo Bills in the AFC Wild Card round. He threw for 4,169 yards, 24 touchdowns and completed 68.0 percent of his attempts in 16 starts.
Having lost three straight games, the Colts now find themselves on the outside looking in for a playoff berth with four weeks remaining in the regular season. Their closing schedule includes matchups with the Seahawks, San Francisco 49ers, Jaguars and Houston Texans.
Rivers’ streak of 240 consecutive games started from 2006 to ’20 is the second-longest by a quarterback in NFL history, behind only Brett Favre (297).
