Every year, the NFL Draft discussion is dominated by quarterback chatter. Round after round, quarterback prospects are discussed, drafted, and those that are not, try to break through as undrafted free agents.
For this reason, I am perplexed why the Indianapolis Colts are trying out a 44-year-old Philip Rivers. To be fair, Rivers was a great quarterback, and he has ties to the Colts and to Shane Steichen from his Chargers days. The operative word is “was.” He retired in 2020 and is widely regarded as a future Hall of Famer.
.@AdamSchefter reports on the Colts planning to work out 44-year-old QB Philip Rivers on Tuesday.
He last played in the NFL in 2020. pic.twitter.com/YVm9lI66i2
— ESPN (@espn) December 9, 2025
I am old enough to remember that there were backups at the ready in these situations. Vinnie Testaverde made a career out of being a backup called to action in these circumstances.
Somebody call Vinnie Testaverde or Neil O’Donnell while they’re at it
I wonder how Terry Bradshaw feels too 🤔 https://t.co/g21TZbtwUw
— Chris Camello (@Chris_Camello) December 9, 2025
The closest this generation has to Testaverde is Joe Flacco who has already started and played the backup role in Cleveland and Cincinnati this year. Posters on social media hoped that Flacco would get released by the Bengals so that he could potentially rejoin the Colts. (He was on the Colts roster in 2024.)
Aren’t there any 20 or 30-something quarterbacks available that the Colts want to roll the dice with a Rivers tryout? Where are all of those quarterbacks at?
Either the NFL is not doing a good job of creating a career path for emergency quarterbacks, or the demand for emergency quarterbacks exceeds the supply.
Despite officiating that tries to protect the quarterback, the majority of NFL quarterbacks starting in Week 1 of the 2025 have had injury issues or missed games this year. Jalen Hurts, Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, and Trevor Lawrence are among the select few that have not dealt with anything serious enough to miss playing time.
The NFL has a quarterback problem. There are not enough of them that a 44-year-old who retired five years ago is the first option for the Colts now that their starter Daniel Jones is out for the rest of the season.
