Many people were stunned when the Indianapolis Colts chose to sign 44-year-old Philip Rivers after their quarterback, Daniel Jones, went down with an injury. After all, the last time Rivers set foot on an NFL field was in 2020.
Philip Rivers is an unquestionable Hall of Famer after playing 17 seasons in the NFL. He passed for 63,440 yards and 421 touchdowns during his career. So, it isn’t his pedigree that is in question. It’s all about his age and inactivity.
That’s what has former NFL defensive back turned ESPN talking head Ryan Clark so concerned and upset about the Colts signing Rivers.
“I believe this is incompetent,” Clark said on First Take on Friday. “And I also believe it is irresponsible. This is not Michael Jordan coming back to play basketball after three years off for the Washington Wizards.
“This is a man in Philip Rivers who was always a stationary target, taking five years off to coach high school football and then coming back to play against the Seattle Seahawks, who would get after your keester if you were freaking Michael Vick.”
Ryan Clark doesn’t blame Philip Rivers for coming back
Ryan Clark doesn’t even care if Philip Rivers gets through the rest of the season unscathed or is successful. He just thinks it’s wrong.
“I don’t give a care how much you hand it to Jonathan Taylor,” he added. “I don’t care how great you think your defense can play. Philip Rivers should not be starting this game. And if he comes out and he plays well and he stays healthy, I’m not going to retract this statement. Because it is a bad decision to put him out there.
“Don’t get me wrong, somebody calls me after five years and says you can play, I might go try to give them a play too. Philip ain’t wrong. Shane Steichen and the Colts are.”
It is a strange decision that the Colts made. They could have brought in much, much younger free agent quarterbacks like Tim Boyle, Taylor Heinicke, Bryce Perkins, Desmond Ridder, Nate Sudfeld, Dorian Thompson-Robinson, and Logan Woodside. Then again, how many fans are the Colts going to draw with any of them starting at quarterback?