Playing football in the NFL at 44 years old is not an easy feat. However, Philip Rivers is returning to the Indianapolis Colts and with that, he is joining a club where only a handful of players played at that age, but who are they?
If Rivers takes a snap for the Colts, he would become the sixth 44-year-old to play as a signal-caller in NFL history. He would join Tom Brady, Vinny Testaverde, Warren Moon, Steve DeBerg, and George Blanda.
While Blanda and Moon are Hall of Famers, Brady clearly will be as soon as he is eligible. Rivers has a parallel to DeBerg, which is that both had four seasons of not playing before returning to the NFL to end their career.
Brady is the standard, but Rivers can try to replicate some success
When you look at quarterback play, Tom Brady is the standard to follow, even though that standard is impossible to reach. Still, maybe at 44, Rivers could try to replicate some stuff that Brady did, although it’s impossible for Rivers to replicate the numbers. At 44, Brady led the league in completions, pass attempts, yards, touchdowns, yards per game, and was second in the MVP voting. It’s just unfair stuff by the greatest of all time.
Tom Brady, former QB for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers
So what kinds of stuff could Rivers replicate? A playoff run. Rivers could definitely make history by qualifying the Colts to the playoffs. At 8-5, Indy needs to win pretty much all games remaining to get into the playoffs. If Rivers manages to help the team go into the playoffs, his legacy would grow immensely.
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The Indianapolis Colts send clear message about Philip Rivers to the Seattle Seahawks ahead of Week 15 game
The Colts are desperate to get into the playoffs
The Colts gave too much stuff trying to win now. Of course it’s not working out. They bet on Daniel Jones and he tore his Achilles, they went all in and gave two first-round picks for Sauce Gardner, who also injured his calf.
Now, the Colts have no quarterback for the future, no first round picks, and desperation as they might miss the playoffs altogether. Now, they depend on Philip Rivers out of retirement to try and salvage this season.
