Philip Rivers Retires Following Early Playoff Loss

While the evergreen careers of Tom Brady and Drew Brees have spoiled us, we have to remember: they are not the norm. Playing at a high level into your early 40s flies in the face of all historical precedent, and eventually, we’ll see other players start to return to those trends. River could potentially be one of those players, depending on the results of this season.

The former Charger didn’t leave a 5-11 team in Los Angeles to come lose somewhere else; his intention is to win, and if the team finds themselves incapable of it, Rivers and his one-year contract will likely not want to find themselves a new home on another new team. At age 38 and coming off his worst season in almost a decade, the new Colts signal caller will most certainly expect better results in Indianapolis if he intends to play further into his career.

While the team has some exceptional young talent to look forward to over the next five years, it cannot be expected for a player of River’s age to last long enough to see the fruits of that talent. And while players like Michael Pittman and Jonathan Taylor might bright futures, the team won’t be looking at any real playoff success unless they truly blossom as rookies.

In the end, I expect another early playoff exit from the Colts, likely to a top-seeded team as they finish with one of the lower seeds or even a wild-card. Not long after, I would not be shocked to see Rivers hang it up and allow the Colts to begin looking for the next Andrew Luck… or the next NEXT Peyton Manning, as it were.