Post Retirement Review: Philip Rivers, Quarterback

By: NFLHeads2020

As announced around 9 EST this morning, Philip Rivers will be announcing his retirement. After 17 seasons in the NFL, Philip Rivers has officially announced his retirement. Throughout his career, 16 seasons with the San Diego/Los Angeles Chargers and 1 season with the Indianapolis Colts, Rivers has made a huge impact in the NFL. From ranking top 5 in passing yards and passing touchdowns, to his NFL record 25 completions in a row, Rivers truly is one of the best quarterbacks in his draft class. 

Before he was drafted by the Giants, yes the Giants, Philip Rivers came from NC State, becoming a full time starter the minute he hit the field.  Philip Rivers holds the career passing touchdown and passing yards records there, which meant that he was highly thought of coming into the draft. That being said, Philip Rivers has been overlooked by many quarterbacks since the day he was drafted. In fact, he was drafted by the Giants in the 2004 draft and swapped with Eli Manning on draft day. 

    Rivers was not an immediate success in San Diego, he started his career on the bench while watching Drew Brees play. After Brees sustained an injury in the 2005 season, Rivers was finally made the starter, and by 2006 he was finally starting to be seen as one of the higher echelon quarterbacks in the NFL. From there his career was… a success? Rivers holds numerous records including leading the league in completion percentage, passing yards, passing touchdowns, and passer rating in four separate years, and attaining multiple accolades as a starter including 8 Pro Bowls, and Comeback Player of the Year. However, Rivers never landed an All-Pro award, and was constantly stopped in the playoffs year after year, never even making a Super Bowl in his whole career. By 2019, Rivers was seen as old and outdated, and was making a lot of really bad throws on the field. His bad play for the most part continued in Indianapolis, which likely influenced his decision to retire.

One thing that many people didn’t know about Rivers was that his first passing touchdown of his career was to Malcolm Floyd. This was important because Malcolm Floyd caught his first touchdown pass from Philip Rivers. Rivers was always a great teammate that built everyone’s character on and off the field. As a practicing Catholic, he was dedicated to pray before games and encourage everyone around him to take both their faith and football seriously. 

During his final interview with the media, Philip said that he retired on January 20th because of the date’s significance. He mentioned that January “is a special and emotional day.” He further said that “It is Saint Sebastian’s Feast day, the day I played in the AFC Championship without an ACL, and now the day that after 17 seasons, I’m announcing my retirement from the National Football League.” Philip Rivers never once thought about himself when playing. In his retirement statement, he thanked the players, coaches, staff, opposing defenses, referees, teammates and fans for being by his side to challenge him and coach him throughout his career. 

One of the highlights of his career wasn’t him throwing the football, but rather his fairly large family. It seemed like every season Philip’s family was expecting a baby. In fact, in his press conference he mentioned all of his kids’ names. His kids; Halle, Caroline, Grace, Gunner, Sarah, Peter, Rebecca, Clare and Anna. The best part of his conference that made many people laugh was that he told the media he was looking forward to finally focusing on starting his family with his wife. With Philip’s retirement he is finally able to focus more on his family rather than a game that earned him millions of dollars.