Philip Rivers expected to be NFL media’s top TV target, per report

Philip Rivers is emerging as the NFL media’s top TV target following Mike Tomlin’s signing at NBC, according to Front Office Sports.

Rivers came out of retirement at 44 after spending four years coaching his son Gunner’s team at St. Michael Catholic High School in Alabama, signing with the Colts in December when injuries wiped out their entire quarterback room.

J.J. Watt shared on social media that he’d learned in a production meeting that Rivers had been running the same offense as the Colts for Gunner’s team all season, talking film and play design with Shane Steichen on a weekly basis, which explained both why Indianapolis called him and why he was functional almost immediately. He went 0-3 in three starts, completed 63% of his passes for 544 yards, and threw four touchdowns against three interceptions.

After he actually played, the question stopped being whether Rivers could still do it and started being what he was going to do next.

That’s the conversation now, with multiple networks — and streamers — holding open chairs. As FOS’s Michael McCarthy notes, CBS has a vacancy on The NFL Today after Matt Ryan moved to the Falcons’ front office. Fox still hasn’t replaced Jimmy Johnson on Fox NFL Sunday. NBC is rebuilding Football Night in America around Mike Tomlin with multiple roles still unsettled after Tony Dungy’s exit, the likely departures of Rodney Harrison, Jac Collinsworth, and Matthew Berry — as Awful Announcing previously reported — and Chris Simms confirming he’s out.

That’s where Rivers would seemingly come in, but it’s not that simple.

“I don’t know,” Rivers said when Kay Adams pressed him about doing media. “I’ve not ruled it out. But every opportunity that’s been close to coming or has come up just hasn’t felt right. I haven’t completely ruled it out. I do think that I would enjoy that. I just don’t know. The one thing I’ve loved since I was however old playing this game and being now as a coach is I’ve been able to have some impact on the score. And, for me, it’s like you might be good at it, talking about it, but I have nothing to do with the outcome of this game.”

Rivers wants to actually affect what happens on the field. Broadcasting doesn’t offer that. You can break down plays, explain what went wrong, and predict what might happen next, but at the end of the day, you’re just talking about it. The game happens regardless of what you say. For someone who’s spent his entire life either playing or coaching, where his decisions directly impact wins and losses, that’s a tough sell.

The travel commitment would be another obstacle. Rivers pointed out that as a player, you’re gone for around nine or 10 weeks a year. Broadcasting would essentially double that, with games nearly every weekend for 20 straight weeks. He just spent three weeks living that life again with the Colts. The ask would be to do that permanently for five straight months every year.

“I was just like I just got out of that, and now I’m about to double the travel,” Rivers said.

A studio role would solve the travel problem. Rivers could coach on Fridays in Alabama, travel on Saturday, and be on set for Sunday. But another factor to consider is that Rivers’ son, Gunner, who recently committed to NC State, is playing his senior season of high school football this fall before heading to Raleigh, and Rivers has nine other kids at home. Any commitment he makes now would need to hold up over the long haul, not just bridge one season while his son finishes high school.