According to The Athletic’s Dianna Russini, recently retired (again) Indianapolis Colts quarterback Philip Rivers has withdrawn from the Buffalo Bills head coaching opening after interviewing entering this past weekend:
Despite having no prior collegiate or pro coaching experience, the 44-year-old Rivers surprisingly received a head coaching interview for Buffalo late last week, as the longtime NFL starting quarterback (and arguably future Pro Football Hall of Famer) is an out-of-the-box candidate in that regard.
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He’s said to have a strong relationship with Bills star quarterback Josh Allen. It’s even more interesting because Buffalo was the last team he played against before his first retirement back in 2020 during the Colts road wild card loss that year.
That being said, after coming out of retirement to close out the season, making 3 starts for the quarterback desperate Colts—despite having not played in 5 years, the timing doesn’t appear to be right for Rivers in Buffalo.
He’s currently the head coach of St. Michael Catholic High School in Fairhope, Alabama, and one of his sons is a rising senior next year on the team, while another son will be an incoming freshman.
There’s no question that from a locker room leadership standpoint and his masterful offensive accumen that Rivers seems poised to be a successful offensive coach at the NFL level—whether it’s as a quarterbacks coach, offensive coordinator, passing game coordinator, or even head coach.
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It’s just a matter of when he’s ready to fully make the jump—while considering his large family life.
Even though Rivers said no this go around, the Bills’ interview experience has to be valuable for him regardless.
Honestly, if the Colts ever have such an offensive coaching opening down the road, Rivers would be high on any list of my potential coaching candidates.
Having some experience as a pro coaching assistant or coordinator would certainly help any initial head coaching transition, but this doesn’t appear to be Jeff Saturday Part II as a head coach by any means. Whoever ultimately lands Rivers, whenever he chooses to go into pro coaching, will have gotten a really good one in my opinion.
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