Philip Rivers leaves door open to future in broadcasting

Philip Rivers is retiring from the NFL for the second time in five years, and this time he swears it’s for good. The 44-year-old went 0-3 in three starts for the Colts after coming out of retirement in December when injuries wiped out Indianapolis’ entire quarterback room.

Rivers called it a “three-week blur that nobody saw coming,” and now he’s headed back to coaching high school football in Alabama. But during an appearance on Up & Adams this week to unofficially announce his retirement, Kay Adams asked Philip Rivers about potentially jumping into media work instead of returning to the sideline.

“I don’t know,” Rivers said when 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.”

Philip Rivers wants to actually affect what happens on the field. Broadcasting doesn’t offer that. You can break down plays, explain what went wrong, 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. Philip 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.

Philip Rivers has 10 kids. His son Gunner will be a senior quarterback at St. Michael Catholic next season. His younger son will be a ninth-grader on the same team. The Cardinals went 13-1 this past season and lost in the state semifinals for the second straight year.

This whole comeback proved something, though. Philip Rivers showed he can still process the game at an NFL level. He completed 63% of his passes for 544 yards, four touchdowns, and three interceptions across three games against playoff teams. He didn’t embarrass himself. He looked like what you’d expect from a 44-year-old who hadn’t played in five years, which is to say he looked way better than he had any right to. That probably makes broadcasting more realistic if he ever decides to pursue it. Networks want guys who still understand the modern game and can communicate it clearly. Rivers proved he can do both.

For now, Philip Rivers is headed back to Alabama. He’s done with football as a player, and this time it seems pretty final. He told Adams that everything had to line up perfectly for this comeback to happen, that he wouldn’t have done it for any other team or coach besides Indianapolis and Shane Steichen.

But he left the door open just enough on broadcasting that if the right opportunity came along, if some network offered him a role that didn’t require him to be gone every weekend for five months, he might consider it.

Until then, he’s staying right where he is, coaching high school football and actually impacting the score.