6 days ago
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The recent Philip Rivers unretirement may have been the beginning, not the end.
Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports that "teams have been doing research" on the soon-to-be-former-for-the-second-time Colts quarterback as a head-coaching candidate. In the current cycle.
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Rivers could get, per the report, one or more interviews.
Rapoport adds that it's not the first time teams have kicked the tires on Rivers. Previously, he had not been willing to engage.
There's no reason to think he will now. Rivers has said he’ll coach his son’s football team in 2026. And his son is going to be a senior.
It puts Rivers in a similar posture to former NFL tight end Jason Witten. Some throughout the league believe Witten is destined to eventually become a head coach — possibly with the Cowboys. For now, though, he's coaching his son in high school.
Rivers could eventually make a Jeff Saturday-style leap to NFL head coaching with no coaching experience at the college or pro level. For Rivers, his 17 years (plus three games) of playing experience at the game's most important position gives him a built-in advantage.
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Few former high-level starting quarterbacks become NFL head coaches. Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh, who had 140 NFL starts at quarterback and is in the Colts' Ring of Honor, is an exception. (Better known as a coach at this point, Harbaugh was a Pro Bowler and got a pair of MVP votes in 1995.) Harbaugh worked his way up as a coach, however, from Raiders quarterbacks coach to head coach at the University of San Diego to head coach at Stanford before becoming head coach of the 49ers a decade after playing in his last NFL game.
Five of 26 Hall of Fame quarterbacks became head coaches: Sammy Baugh, Bob Waterfield, Norm Van Brocklin, Otto Graham, and Bart Starr. None finished their coaching careers above .500.
No franchise quarterbacks in the post-merger era of pro football have become NFL head coaches. Most simply don't need the money, which likely makes them unwilling to embrace the grind of working for not much pay (relative to their career earnings) through the various layers and levels of the profession before emerging with the top job.
John Elway, of course, became the G.M. of the Broncos. But he never worked as a scout, hopscotching the country and grinding prospect tape in anonymity before positioning himself to get one of the top jobs.
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Rivers has made more than $244 million as a quarterback. Would he take a quarterbacks coach assignment, with the goal of becoming an offensive coordinator and then, when the planets align, a head coach? Or would he be far more interested, if at all, in becoming a head coach or nothing at all?
Josh McCown, who was a finalist for the Texans' head-coaching job in 2022 after a 16-year playing career with 76 starts, is in his third year as a quarterbacks coach — one with Carolina, two with Minnesota.
Jim Zorn, with 106 career starts, became an assistant coach in the late 1980s and eventually coached Washington for two seasons. (Zorn got three MVP votes in 1978.)
Rivers would be the rare exception, as it relates to true franchise quarterbacks who made many millions on the field, to enter the NFL coaching profession. And, like Elway, Rivers may be able to bypass the preliminary jobs and go straight to running the show.
For now, Rivers is reportedly on the radar screen.
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