Getty Philip Rivers and Melvin Gordon III celebrate after touchdown
Since Melvin Gordon entered the NFL in 2015, he’s mostly only known one quarterback. The running back has spent the entirety of his five-year career with the Los Angeles (previously San Diego) Chargers, sharing the backfield with franchise-great Philip Rivers. Yet, if Gordon re-ups with Los Angeles this offseason, he’ll likely be receiving handoffs from an unfamiliar face.
This is because after a majorly disappointing 5-11 season in 2019, a year in which the Chargers had Super Bowl aspirations, the Bolts and Rivers “mutually agreed” that parting ways was the best option for both parties.
Now, for the first time in his 16 year career, at 38 years of age, Rivers will be hitting the open market once the new season opens up.
The potential future Hall of Famer will likely garner a solid amount of attention from quarterback-needy teams this offseason, most notably ones that feel they are a signal-caller away from true title contention. However, there may be no need to speculate where Rivers lands, because Gordon believes he knows exactly where his former quarterback will end up.
Melvin Gordon Predicts Philip Rivers to the Colts
Melvin Gordon recently spoke to CBS Sports (ESPN’s Adam Schefter) to discuss where he feels Philip RIvers will wind up playing football next season. Gordon’s answer will likely not come as too much of a surprise, as the running back sees Rivers landing with a team atop the majority of fans and media’s most logical landing spots for the QB.
“I think he goes to the Colts,” Gordon said. “I don’t know, that’s just my thought.”
Rivers’ Connection With the Colts Run Deep
Gordon, who made it clear that he has no inside information on the matter, pointed to the Colts’ coaching staff as the reason for his prediction.
“He has [connections],” Gordon said. “Nick (Sirianni) … he came from here, we had him, and he’s the offensive coordinator there. They run the same playbook, so it’d be easy, he could come right in and he could be telling guys what to do, he knows what’s going on already.”
Nick Sirianni will be entering his third season as the Colts offensive coordinator after spending his previous five years on the Chargers’ coaching staff. That includes two seasons as Rivers’ position coach. It’s also been reported via The Podfather, that Sirianni has been “openly recruiting” Rivers to take his talents to Indianapolis.
On top of Sirianni, were Rivers to land in Indianapolis, he also has familiarity with the main man in charge, head coach Frank Reich. Colts head coach Frank Reich spent three seasons with the Chargers. He, like Sirianni, spent time as the team’s quarterback coach before being promoted to offensive coordinator and serving in that role from 2014 through 2015.
As of now, Jacoby Brissett is the Colts starting quarterback. However, his presence will likely do nothing to deter Indianapolis or Rivers from pursuing one another this offseason. Following the conclusion of the 2019 regular season, Colts GM Chris Ballard notoriously stated that “the jury’s still out” on Brissett.
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