Philip Rivers Is Back-And the Quarterbacks He Mentored Are Watching Closely
ENGLEWOOD, Colo. - Eighteen months ago, Philip Rivers was in his element-not on an NFL sideline, but back home in Mobile, Alabama, helping a group of young quarterbacks prepare for the draft. Fast forward to now, and the 44-year-old is suddenly back in the NFL mix, practicing with the Indianapolis Colts and possibly staring down a surreal playoff scenario: facing one of the very quarterbacks he once mentored.
“Kind of like everybody else,” said Denver Broncos quarterback Bo Nix on Wednesday, “I’m eager to see what comes of it.”
And why wouldn’t he be? Nix, now leading one of the AFC’s top teams, spent time with Rivers before the 2024 draft, soaking up knowledge from a quarterback who’s seen it all-and then some.
Drake Maye, the New England Patriots’ rising star, was part of that same offseason group. So was Carter Bradley, a South Alabama product who’s bounced around NFL rosters and currently sits with the Jacksonville Jaguars.
All of them connected with Rivers through QB Country, a quarterback development program based in Alabama, and all of them left those sessions with the same impression: Rivers still had it.
“The biggest thing was he still throws it good,” Maye said. “Shoot, that was two springs ago. He was slinging it good.”
That observation might carry a little more weight now. Maye and Nix-picked third and 12th in the 2024 draft, respectively-have their teams rolling.
Both the Patriots and Broncos are 11-2, riding 10-game win streaks heading into Week 15. And while the AFC playoff picture is still sorting itself out, there’s a very real possibility that one of those teams could land the No. 2 seed-setting up a potential first-round matchup with a seventh-seeded Colts team led by, yes, Philip Rivers.
Of course, that’s getting a bit ahead of the story. The Colts haven’t even confirmed whether Rivers will be elevated from the practice squad to start Sunday against the Seahawks. But with Indy on a three-game skid and sitting just outside the playoff picture at 8th in the AFC, the possibility of Rivers stepping in to give the team a jolt is very much in play.
And for the quarterbacks who saw Rivers up close in those pre-draft workouts, the idea of him making one last run doesn’t feel far-fetched.
“He’s still a kid. He just loves this game,” said Bradley, whose father Gus was Rivers’ defensive coordinator in Los Angeles during the tail end of his Chargers career.
“He’s excited when he gets to talk ball. That’s who he is.
He’s awesome to be around. It’s just ball, ball, ball all the time.
I’m excited to see him in Indy.”
That spring in Alabama wasn’t just about mechanics and footwork. For Rivers, it was a chance to scratch a competitive itch. And according to Maye, he didn’t hold back.
“He’s the ultimate competitor,” Maye said. “He was beating us in throwing competitions-and letting us know about it.
I’m sure he knows the offense well, and I’m sure he still slings it great. I saw some of his press conference; that was pretty funny.
Great guy, and when I was around him, he was great to me. Pretty cool with something like that.”
Asked if he could see himself still playing at 44, Maye cracked, “If I’m moving around still, I hope so.”
As for Nix, being the quarterback in Denver means he’s heard plenty of stories about Rivers’ fiery battles with the Broncos during his 16 seasons with the Chargers. And after seeing Rivers in action during those spring sessions, Nix believes the veteran’s experience-and time away-might actually work in his favor.
“He played long into his career, so he understands how it is playing older and not being able to move around probably like he wanted to as a young guy,” Nix said. “So he’s not in uncomfortable territory or waters, I can promise you that.
If anything, this break has allowed him to see the game differently. You never know, it could be a good spark that they need.
I’m happy for him. That’s a cool thing to see a legendary player like that sort of come back and make another run at it.”
So here we are, with the AFC playoff race heating up and a familiar name back in the mix. Rivers hasn’t thrown a regular-season pass since the Colts' 2021 Wild Card loss to Buffalo.
But if he does get the call, don’t expect him to tiptoe into the moment. That’s never been his style.
And for the young quarterbacks who once trained alongside him, watching Rivers lace it up again is more than just a storyline-it’s a full-circle moment.
And who knows? Come January, we could be watching Rivers go head-to-head with the very players he helped prepare for this league. Now that would be something.