Frank Reich continuing to make sense of Philip Rivers signing is refreshing

Fans were confused when the Colts paid so much money for Philip Rivers, but it’s all starting to make sense.

At the end of the day, everyone knew Philip Rivers was likely a stopgap option for the Indianapolis Colts when they gave him a one-year, $25 million contract last offseason. There were no big-name quarterbacks on the open market and Indy wasn’t in position to take one of the top signal callers in the 2020 NFL Draft, so it’s clear they were prepping for 2021.

Then came Rivers’ struggles, which admittedly cost the Colts in their losses (for the most part). Fans were fed up with his poor decision making and inability to make plays with the amount of time he had in the pocket.

But perhaps many forgot how injuries on the offensive side of the ball hurt the receiving game, which greatly affected Rivers’ ability to develop a rapport with his pass catchers. Well, here we are in Week 9, and it’s clear his veteran leadership has played a role in bringing a banged-up WR corps together.

Head coach Frank Reich has stuck with Rivers and continues to make sense of this signing that garnered mixed reactions from the fan base. Why not sign Cam Newton? Or Tom Brady? Because it’s clear the Colts have a long-term plan and Rivers is at the perfect juncture of his career to help mentor young players/deal with injury and roster turnover and still have the ability to play at a reasonably high level for a QB his age.

Rivers is no stranger to any of this as evidenced by his time in San Diego/Los Angeles, and the fact that he’s been able to keep the Colts’ offense on track despite Marlon Mack’s season-ending injury, TY Hilton’s disappearance, Parris Campbell’s injury, the issues with the tight end corps, and guys like Marcus Johnson having to step up speak volumes.

In the end, most other stopgap QBs would have crumbled, especially in a totally new environment after spending 16 seasons with another team.

At the end of the day, the Colts were never contending in 2020. They’re still building with up-and-coming young players, in addition to some free-agent additions that they’re experimenting with to see if they’ll still be around for 2021 and beyond, so signing a veteran QB to a short-term deal that wasn’t exactly going to propel them to new heights was always the answer.

Rivers’ body of work, veteran leadership and place in his career lined up perfectly with what the Colts were doing, and we can bet it’ll pay significant dividends when the next signal caller takes over.

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