Philip Rivers finally declared it, confirming his retirement from NFL and ending a 17 year-long career in the shirts of Chargers and Indianapolis Colts.
Philip Rivers confessed with the media about his retirement earlier today. The player of Indianapolis Colts is ending his career as one of the most prolific players in NFL history. He spent a total of 16 years playing for Los Angeles Chargers and also Indianapolis Colts.
The player emotionally said that being able to make it to this far – playing quarterback for an NFL club – was his “childhood dream”. Though River never played in the Super Bowl, he ranks fifth in the NFL history for making the most passing yards. His record is 63,440 passing yards, only behind legendary players like Drew Brees, Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, and Brett Favre.
His touchdown passes are also a record of NFL history. Rivers ranks fifth in the list of most touchdown passes creator, once again, only behind these legendary players Brady, Brees, Manning and Favre.
Rivers said that he specifically chose today to announce his retirement as it was an important day for the player.
Jan. 20th is well-known as the Roman Catholic Church’s feast day for St. Sebastian usually referred to as a patron saint for athletes. Also, today is the anniversary date for Rivers. It was 13 years ago that Rivers played with a torn ACL in the loss of the Chargers to the New England Revolution in the AFC Championship Game.
It is St. 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. Thank you, God for allowing me to live out my childhood dream of playing quarterback in the NFL.
Rivers said in a statement.
Although the player is about to retire, his coach at Indianapolis Colts hopes that he would return for another season. His coach admitted that the player is still sharp and has a lot of attributes left.
Sean McDermott said that he would put Rivers in the elite class of NFL and described this player as one of the best ones he has ever worked with.
I put him in the same category as all those elite quarterbacks — extremely smart. I’m sure there’s a lot of defensive coordinators right now around the league breathing a sigh of relief, with all respect to what Phil has been able to do.
McDermott said in a statement.
In the end, Rivers is about to end his 16-season in NFL as one of the best quarterbacks in history of NFL. Football is lucky to have service of Rivers, and we will all miss you.
Thank you to all my coaches that helped me grow as a player and person. Thanks to the support staff. I appreciate the opposing defenses making it challenging physically and mentally every week. … I also enjoyed the banter. I appreciate the referees for putting up with all my fussing. I think I was right most of the time dadgummit!
Rivers said in a statement.