The Indianapolis Colts brought Philip Rivers back last season, but now he’s looking to take a different step in his career.
No, Rivers is not going to play quarterback in the NFL again, at least as far as anyone knows. It seems like his second QB retirement might be the one that sticks.
But a coaching career moving up the ladder does definitely seem to be in the cards for the gunslinging quarterback.
Rivers shocked the NFL when he returned to the Indianapolis Colts last season.
He had been away from the league for half a decade, but when Indy called as injuries ravaged its quarterback room, Rivers answered.
Rivers played in three games and couldn’t quite save the Colts’ season, and that was the new conclusion to his playing career.
These days, Rivers has been coaching his son at the high school level. A move up the football ladder might be in the cards.
Philip Rivers Coaching News
On3 Sports is reporting that Rivers has “emerged as the focus” of the coaching search at North Carolina State, the program where he was a college star.
NC State is looking for a replacement for head coach Dave Doeren, who they fired a week ago.
Rivers’ son Gunnar, the QB he’s currently coaching at the high school level, is committed to play collegiately for the Wolfpack like his dad. It’d be quite the sequence for Rivers to just move up to NC State and keep coaching his son, as well as coaching at the school he played at collegiately.
It’d also be quite impressive for Rivers to go straight from being a high school head coach to being a high-level college head coach.
Rivers was a standout quarterback for the Wolfpack in the early 2000s before being the No. 4 overall pick in the 2004 NFL Draft by the Chargers.
He then spent nearly his whole career with the Chargers, only coming to the Colts for the 2020 season before his first retirement — then getting those three games last year with Daniel Jones and Anthony Richardson both out due to injury.
NFL Coaching Future
There had already been some suggestion that Rivers could become a head coach in the NFL.
In January, it was reported that Rivers interviewed for the Buffalo Bills‘ head coach opening. That didn’t come to fruition, but it showed how highly NFL teams think of Rivers.
Even with the Colts last season, Rivers was essentially doing some additional coaching while also playing quarterback.
It’s clear Rivers’ coaching future is bright, and it might be about to take him back to North Carolina State.
Philip Rivers Gets Career Update After Shock Colts Return